After Hogwarts
by Medico69
Summary: This what happened after Voldemort was defeated and Harry gets on with his life. What will he do now? What profession will he follow? Will he marry? read to find out what happens next. Comments are welcome and expected. HP/HG NL/SB RW/DG LL/?
1. Chapter 1

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 1**

Following all the excitement at the end of term feast Harry was ready for a few weeks of rest, the threat of Voldemort was over once and for all – he was dead. It had taken the DMLE a few days but they had finally found where Voldemort and his followers had been staying. The raid on the cave was the first task for the newly graduated aurors from the time compression school. In the cave they found a lot of garbage and in a back room they found Dumbledore, or at least his body. It appeared he had been dead for several days. They also found a very large and angry snake, which they dispatched after it attacked some of the aurors. Strangely, a couple of the aurors reported that a black mist rose out of the snake's body when it was killed.

In a makeshift lab was also found were the bodies of several men and women. An analysis of these potions showed that the potion makers had been trying to make some forbidden potions to increase one's magic, these highly illegal and dangerous potions were destroyed under the watchful eye of "Mad-Eye" Moody. Other potions were found stored there but they were simple healing potions that offered no threat to the wizarding world.

In the Highlands,of Northern Scotland, five students arrived at a simple cottage, the cottage belonging to the local pastor and his wife. One of the students was the daughter of this family she was returning after her first year at Hogwarts. The father wasn't home, but the mother was; she was glad to see her daughter return. Hermione, Neville, and Luna were introduced since Harry had met both parents a couple of weeks before when he destroyed the soul fragments of Voldemort. The four visitors had tea with the mother and daughter. The daughter, Sam – short for Samantha, went to see her friend, who should be attending Hogwarts that fall, so she could meet the new friends.

When the father came in he was disappointed to find his daughter gone, but cheered up when Sam and Bonnie came in a few minutes later. Harry and Hermione had received permission to make first contact with the young girl Bonnie prior to her being asked to attend Hogwarts that fall. This permission was due to the appointment of Harry and Hermione as instructors for the summer term and the upcoming fall term. Bonnie was introduced to the new kids and especially Luna as she was the only Ravenclaw present except Sam. Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna explained about Hogwarts and asked if Bonnie was interested, she was. They also explained that Harry and Hermione needed to speak with Bonnie's parents and that if they refused then their memory would have to be erased to protect the magical world.

The meeting between Harry, Hermione, and Bonnie's parents went well. Harry and Hermione demonstrated a few simple charms and transfiguration spells, those from first year, and Neville explained about magical plants. The biggest hit, at least to Bonnie and Sam, was when Harry showed them about his relationship to fire. For some reason the fact that he juggled balls of fire and didn't get burned amazed both girls, and their parents. When asked if the girls would learn to do that Harry told them that not everyone was able to "play with fire" but there were three other elements to consider – air, water, and earth. Hermione suggested that they go out back and show the parents, and girls, about the others. Now came the hard part of the discussion.

As Sam heard at the end of term feast, there are now summer classes being made available for those students who wanted or needed extra help. The summer session was also for the incoming students from non-magical families, such as Bonnie. Those classes taught a brief history of magic and showed the the new students the ethics of the magical world. It would also be during this time that the new students gather their school supplies, saving the parents a trip to London. Harry, Hermione and Neville explained that Sam had already expressed a desire to attend classes this summer, so Bonnie wouldn't be alone there without any friends. They presented the official letter of invitation from the school to Bonnie and her parents. "Unfortunately", Hermione explained as she handed Bonnie her letter, "these are form letters and have not been updated to include the summer sessions".

While Bonnie and her parents talked with Sam's parents and Sam, Harry and crew stepped outside. "Bonnie's parents seem inclined to let her go to Hogwarts but from what I've seen this is a rather poor part of the country. What do you think about offering Bonnie some help with books and tuition? If they agree to her going we can send a letter offering the help in a week or so" Harry asked the others. The rest agreed that the tuition was a little high, especially for muggle-born students.

Once back inside Hermione answered most of the questions from Bonnie's parents, as expected the subject of money was foremost on their minds. Hermione explained that due to several changes there might be some help available but it wasn't up to them to decide that. Another question was what were the courses that were required first year, Sam answered that question since she had just completed that year a few hours ago.

"Mr. Potter, what of the person you mentioned the last time we spoke?" Sam's father asked.

"That person is not a problem any longer and all those that followed him are in prison. While I can't go into great detail about it, I'm sure Sam will tell you what she knows later. There is one other item I must stress, nobody can know about the magical world yet. There is too much fear on both sides about that subject. Magic isn't harmful or evil and students are taught about the evil side but just so they know what not to do. Hogwarts doesn't teach how to do harmful magic just what some of it is and how to watch out for it. Magic can be very useful if you are careful, for example once they learn how Sam and Bonnie will be able to help around the house with the chores much quicker than usual. In an emergency they will be able to summon help quickly and to defend their families from dangerous situations" Harry explained.

When Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna left they had a signed permission letter allowing Bonnie to attend Hogwarts, both the summer session and the fall session. The next stop was home, by way of Potter Manor. Rick and Lucy were already there and waiting when the four arrived. It was only an hour later that Dan and Emma Granger arrived to pick up their daughter, they stayed for supper. When the Grangers, and Lucy, heard what the kids had done and explained to Bonnie's parents the comments were that they wished they had been visited by the group before going to school the first time or sending Hermione.

The next morning Harry slept in until 9am. His first task was to check on the Potter properties and see what they needed and what he could do to help. There wasn't much needed, a few contracts needed to be renegotiated or new ones made. Harry made a trip to see Charlie Weasley at the dragon reserve and received a warm welcome from both Charlie and the elves. The highlight of the trip was when he met the young dragon he had run into before and the dragon just rubbed his head against Harry. Harry left the reserve with a large bundle of dragon skin to be used for more dragon hide items – gloves, boots, aprons, and armor.

Harry had been at home for a week when he received a letter from McGonagall asking if he could come to the school for a talk, and bring the rest of the heirs also. Harry called Susan but she was already going at the request of her Aunt Amelia. Harry called Luna and she agreed to meet him there the next day, finally he called Neville to make arrangements so that they all arrived at approximately the same time. Hermione said she had received her own invitation and had already sent her acceptance. Once at Hogwarts Harry, Hermione, and Neville found out that this was a meeting to finalize the summer courses and to review the applications for attendance from the students. The requests for attendance were mostly from the muggle-born students, there were a few from the half-bloods and even fewer from the pure-bloods.

Once the courses had been finalized Harry brought up the issue of tuition, much to McGonagall's displeasure. "The tuition schedule is very unfair, the so called pure-bloods pay little while the majority of the tuition is paid by the muggle-born and half-bloods. What the heirs would like to see is the pure-bloods paying more and the others paying less. There should be an extra cost if a student elects to take advanced courses, like advanced flying which I would be happy to teach if there is enough interest. Any student who has a problem paying tuition should be able to acquire help either through the school or through loans from Gringotts. I would also propose a work-study program for students with high grades, they would have a portion of their tuition reduced if they tutored younger students and receive a small amount of pay for their efforts.

"Another thing is that the new incoming students should be able to buy their supplies while at the summer session. I am sure if we approached the vendors in Diagon Alley they would be willing to setup small booths at the school just for the new students, especially the ones who are needy or live so far away from London. It might even be a good idea to have a school store where students can purchase supplies without having to leave the school grounds, mostly simple items such as quills (which I would like to see be done away with), paper or parchment, ink, and small cheap gifts. In other words basic items and expendables. If the school purchased these items in bulk then resold them the profit would go to the school.

"As Headmistress McGonagall is aware some of the renovations being done this summer is the installation of computers for the students and instructors to use. One of the items that could be sold in the school store would be high quality computer paper for use in handing in major assignments or writing letters to a special friend. Another item would be computer disks so the students could keep a copy of their work for review without tying up computer space that will be needed by the staff for their records" Harry explained.

After an hour of discussion, McGonagall agreed to accompany Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley to speak with some of the vendors there about setting up small booths at the school on occasion. They would also stop in and speak with Ragnok about securing low interest loans for the needy students; Houses Longbottom and Potter would provide most of the funds, Gringotts would charge a small administration fee – say 2% per loan. Of all the vendors Ollivander was the most difficult since one never knew what type of wand would be needed by who. It was finally decided that there would be a selection of the most common wands and any specialty wands would be made to order, at an extra charge by Harry. The only books that would be available were those that were required for first years that summer, with arrangements made to have a supply of books covering all years in the future.

While they were talking to the vendors of Diagon Alley Harry and Hermione had another suggestion for McGonagall, they suggested that it might be helpful if on the initial visit to the muggle-born if a soon to be second year muggle-born went with the contact person. They gave the story of their contact with Bonnie's family as an example and their use of Sam. McGonagall said it might be a good idea, almost as good as the free summer session for new muggle-born students.

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**A/N: This is the start of the years after Hogwarts, I hope you enjoy it. The next chapter will deal with more upgrades and the first summer session.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	2. Chapter 2

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 2**

Over the next few weeks Harry and Hermione made several initial contact visits to muggle-born students, and they took a new second year with them each time. The response was great, the kids responded to the 2nd years and the parents were pleased to see someone close to their child's age explain things from that stand point. Harry and Hermione didn't always go together, some times Harry took only the boys and Hermione took the girls, it seemed to work out better that way.

When Harry or Hermione weren't visiting they were at Hogwarts or Hogwarts Extended, as the old Malfoy manor was called now, helping with renovations or setting up classes and rooms. Harry enjoyed his time at Hogwarts and he really enjoyed the changes that were being made to the school. One of the rooms on first floor was turned into a school store and Harry helped stock it initially, or at least plan the layout. At first Harry was the only one who understood how to prepare a room for computer usage, but he soon taught others how to do that – mostly new seventh year Ravenclaws. Luna had found out that a couple of the younger Ravenclaws were the kids of parents who installed computers as their careers. Luna convinced the parents to agree to help in exchange for a chance to visit the school. One of the hardest things was running the electrical lines, an easy and rather ingenues answer to that problem happened when someone suggested transfiguring some people into rats to pull the cables through the walls.

McGonagall had not found a potions instructor but the Weasley twins agreed to teach that subject, as long as they could make some changes. The first change was to move the lab out of the dungeon. The space where the potions lab used to be was now the new server room and a professional IT person was hired to take care of that space and the equipment. The next change that the twins made was to update the equipment and enlarge the storage closets so that each year had it's own closet with the needed supplies.

Neville was in charge of renovating the greenhouses, and he made a few changes. There were now a total of eight greenhouses, one for each year and the extra was to be used for research and growing some of the potion ingredients needed most often. Prof. Sprout was thrilled to see that she had room to grow more plants and room to let the students spread out some. Sprout and Neville would share the classes so neither would be over loaded, and each would have time to research new techniques and plants.

The defense classroom got a major overhaul, all the specimen were arranged so that they were grouped by year and type. The room was painted a cheerier color and new pictures of animals and creatures were hung. The desks were changed out with newer ones, or at least transfigured into a newer style. Modern projection equipment was installed so that the visual media was clearer and easier for the students to see. A separate room was setup for spell-work, in fact that class now had several rooms assigned for spell-work only and they could also be used by the Charms classes.

One of the biggest problems was the library, Madame Prince didn't want anyone messing with her books. That was until Hermione showed her what they hoped to accomplish by reordering the books and by making copies of the oldest and most delicate books so they would be preserved. Now the books were arranged by subject, then by year of relevancy. The books on really dark magic could only be accessed by seventh years and staff, and they could not be removed from the library without setting off an alarm.

A few of the unused classrooms were redone and put to use for new subjects such as basic cooking and household charms, warding – available to fifth years and up, medical education, and mind skills. To save time and space one room was a basic setup to learn how to make wands and magical aids, this would be used mostly by Harry to allow him to create specialty wands for now – and the occasional staff.

Transfiguration now had two rooms assigned to that subject, and one of them was to be a surprise for McGonagall as she wasn't allowed to enter until it was completed. This second transfiguration classroom had better desks and a small library along the back wall that contained reference books on that subject alone. There were several computers placed in this room and they only accessed transfiguration material, except for the instructor's computer which had access to any material on the school network. The same configuration was used to design a second classroom for Charms, this time Flitwick wasn't allowed inside until completed.

Runes and Arithmancy classrooms were redone to make them lighter and airier. These two classes required that students have a laptop to do their work on and each desk had a docking station and a regular monitor for the students to use during class. Of course the instructors had to be trained to use the computers first and the laptops' software would be upgraded each year to allow better usage and function.

Hagrid now had a classroom inside the castle for lectures and to show the students what a creature looked like before they had to meet them for the first time. Harry helped arrange for several very rare creatures to be housed at Hogwarts so the students would have access to them, but not handle them. Harry arranged a real surprise for Hagrid, Charlie was going to bring a few dragons to the school for a few of the classes.

The Great Hall was redone so, like Peaks, the students didn't have to sit at the big tables except on special occasions, such as the opening and closing feasts or when they had special guests or visitors. The menu was also redone to include healthier foods and less sweets. Most of the time it was buffet style for the students, this would be a real surprise for the returning students that fall. This arrangement also made it easier on the elves as they didn't have to fix so many different items every meal.

Work at Hogwarts Extended was just as hectic but in a different manner. Rooms had to be changed so that the males and females were separated for sleeping. Classrooms had to be reconfigured for Hogwarts students instead of aurors. Books had to be gathered for the courses, especially the new courses in ethics and manners. It was decided that incoming first years would be given basic flying lessons during their summer session, as such newer brooms were obtained thanks to the manufactures support – and their hopes that the students would purchase their brand of broom when the time came.

For this summer session the current books from the preceding year would be used, but newer books would be needed for the fall term. Flourish & Blotts agreed to provide copies of the newer books for the instructors to look over during the summer, and each instructor was required to update the book list for the fall term with newer more modern books by the 1st of August so they could be ordered in and ready in time for the start of classes.

While all the renovations were being done at Hogwarts and Hogwarts Extended, Kingsley Shacklebolt was busy putting the new aurors to work cleaning up Knockturn Alley of all the dark stores and objects. Borgin & Burkes was the first to be visited by the aurors and it took almost a week to clean that store out, the owners paid a very large fine for all the dark items found there, the store went out of business due to the fines. Each and every store was visited over the summer and many never opened again. Some of the objects obtained were placed on display in the Ministry of Magic behind very secure wards and glass. Some of them were donated to Hogwarts for use in classes, after being deactivated or at least their effect reduced significantly. Some of the money from the fines was donated to Hogwarts to help with the cost of replacing and buying new equipment, but most of the fine money was put into the ministry treasury to cover the cost of operating.

It was Friday June 28th and the students would be arriving at Hogwarts in two days. Once everyone had arrived they would be port-keyed to the summer campus where they would be fed and sent to their dorms. Harry and Hermione were busy getting maps of the campus made so the students wouldn't get lost the first few days. Neville was busy doing the final setup of the new greenhouses. There were several house-elves doing last minute cleaning and rearranging. Over the past few weeks Harry and Hermione had visited many new students in addition to helping with the renovations at both Hogwarts locations and they were tired. Sunday the 30th would be a long day since Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna would be going to pick up the new students who lived too far from London to ride the train. The students they picked up would be brought straight to the new campus instead of Hogwarts itself. Once at the new campus the kids would be turned over to several of the instructors who had volunteered to "babysit" the students and show them around the facility. But Saturday had been set aside as a day of rest for all involved.

Hermione had all but moved in with Harry; she spent as much time at Potter Manor as Harry did, but they didn't share a bed – yet. When the day ended that Friday Hermione would go to her parents house to spend time with them before the summer session started. Harry was going to visit Petunia and Dudley, even if he did have to put up with Vernon. While Harry was at Privet Drive he was asked if it might be possible for his aunt and cousin to visit the new school and maybe learn more about the wizarding world, Harry said he would have to check to see if there was enough space. Harry also explained that once there they would be gone for a month since the new school used time compression and nobody could leave once that started.

After a very strained meal, due to Vernon's attitude, Harry and Dudley went out for a walk and to get a cup of tea, or coffee in Harry's case. While they were out they ran into some of Dudley's old friends as they were bullying a younger kid. Dudley asked Harry to watch his back as he intended to put an end to this behavior. Everything was going well until one of the boys pulled a knife, there was two problems with that action – both Harry and Dudley saw the knife. Harry was sure Dudley broke the boy's jaw when he hit him and from the odd angle of the boy's arm Harry knew the boy had a broken arm. The police came and were going to arrest Dudley until the young boy explained what had happened and why the boy had a broken arm. The boy was taken away in an ambulance, the young boy was escorted home by Harry and Dudley where they received the thanks from the child's parents. What the parents and the young boy never saw was Harry healing Dudley's arm where the other boy had cut him.

As the two young men were walking back home Dudley commented that he wished he could learn more about the magical world and how magic worked. Harry explained that if Dudley and Petunia were allowed to attend the summer session then he would learn much more. Dudley asked if maybe Harry could teach him a few more spells, Petunia had been trying to teach him what she knew but Dudley didn't seem to be able to do them very well. Harry asked when Dudley had gotten his wand and was told Dudley was using his mom's wand. "That may be the problem. A wand that doesn't match the wizard doesn't work very well. If you would like we can see about getting you a proper wand that works for you" Harry explained.

"Does that mean we can go to that wizarding shopping place? That would be great; can we go tomorrow?" Dudley replied.

"How about we go down this alley and talk about it, away from other people", Harry continued.

As they walked down the alley Harry told Dudley to take his arm and to hold on tight. Harry and Dudley held each others arm and the next thing Dudley knew they were spinning and when they stopped they were inside a large stone room. Dudley's first question was "What was that and where are we?"

"That was apparition, one of the ways wizards and witches travel. We are in what used to be called the Chamber of Secrets, but we just call it the Chamber now – at least the ones of us who are able to get in. there are only four ways to get here, apparition like we just did, using a portkey which is a magical device for traveling, sliding down a pipe from the girls restroom which is kinda messy, or walk in through the Forbidden Forest and enter through a cave of giant spiders – not very pleasant and a little dangerous. Now that we are here lets see if we can find you a proper wand", Harry explained as he lead Dudley to another room.

Once they were inside the second room Harry asked Dudley to hold his dominate hand out over some pieces of wood and see which piece seemed the most friendly. It took a few minutes but Dudley finally pointed out a piece of wood that felt "friendly", it was Hazel from the forest. Next Harry had Dudley try the same thing but with common wand cores, he got a reaction from Thestral hair. Harry checked and he had enough samples of both items to make Dudley a wand, so he started on that project. It took about 30 minutes for Harry to assemble the components into a wand.

Now it was time to test the wand before sealing it, Harry took Dudley back out to the main room and had him try a spell that he had been able to do with Petunia's wand, the levitation spell. The spell worked great so it was time to finish the wand; that would require a drop of Dudley's blood and then the sealing process. Harry took Dudley back into the workshop and carefully opened the wand and had Dudley drip a single drop of blood on to the core. After closing the wand Harry applied the sealant and told Dudley that it needed to dry overnight before it could be used. Harry took Dudley home and said he would return the next day with the new wand.

The next morning, after breakfast, Harry went to Hogwarts to speak with McGonagall. "Professor, my aunt and cousin have asked if they might attend the summer session so they can learn more about the magical world. I told them I would have to check and would get back with them. So, I came here today to ask your opinion and permission" Harry said hopefully.

"Well Mr. Potter I think the presence of a more mature woman might be of some help, and if she and her son happen to learn something while there that would be a plus" McGonagall answered and smiled.

Harry thanked McGonagall then went down to the Chamber to retrieve Dudley's wand, if it was ready yet. The wand was dried and appeared to be ready so Harry polished it well to remove any rough spots and apparated to Privet Drive. When Harry arrived he found Dudley mowing the yard and Petunia working in her flower bed. "Good morning Aunt Petunia, how are you today?" Harry asked in way of a greeting. Petunia replied she was fine and commented on how dry it had been and that Vernon was complaining about the water usage again.

Dudley saw Harry and shut down the mower and came over, "Morning cousin. You wouldn't want to help me out here would you?"

Harry looked around as if Dudley was talking to someone else before replying, "Who me? The one who had to cut the grass when he was younger so you could go out and play with your friends?" Harry looked around again and waved his hand and the yard was perfect. Dudley just started to laugh.

The three of them went into the back yard and Harry brought out Dudley's new wand. But before he gave it to him Harry had him claim the wand. After he had claimed the wand Dudley had to try it out and was surprised when it worked so well, even better than the night before. Harry spent a couple of hours working with his aunt and cousin showing them simple spells and improving their techniques. He also told them that they had permission to attend the summer session and to be ready at 8am the next day.

After leaving his aunt's house Harry made a stop to see Hermione and to let her know that Petunia and Dudley were going to attend the session. Harry spent the rest of the day, or what was left of it, just relaxing at home. Supper that night was a quiet meal with just Harry alone. Harry went to bed early, after packing his trunk, so he could get some well deserved, and much needed, rest.

Harry was up at 530am and for the first time in a few weeks he ran his 6 miles and swam a few laps before breakfast. Harry was at Privet Dr. by 755am to see if his aunt and cousin were ready. The door was answered by Dudley and inside Harry found a surprise, Vernon Dursley was on the floor stiff as a board and Aunt Petunia was giving him what-for in a loud manner. Harry had to laugh at that sight, Dudley even snickered some. After she had finished "talking" to Vernon Petunia blushed and asked Harry how to release the spell she had done. Harry laughed some more then told her to try _Finite I__ncantationem_, which worked. Harry took both his aunt and Dudley to Hogwarts Extended by way of side-along apparition, thank goodness he thought to shrink their luggage.

Once at the site both were shown their rooms, Petunia would be acting as a chaperone for several of the younger girls dorm rooms (mostly first timers). It was 9am before McGonagall and the rest showed up to start the escort duties. McGonagall took Petunia to the side and explained what was expected of her and Dudley and the help they could provide as a welcoming committee for the incoming students. Once that was finished the lists were handed out to Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna so they would know who to pick up and where. There was no special order to the pickups so they could do them any way they pleased. Luna said she was going to get Sam and Bonnie first, then see who was next.

When Luna arrived at Sam's house Bonnie was already there, she had spent the night. Luna took a few minutes to explain how they were going to travel to Bonnie, Sam had already traveled by side-along before. As the threesome was about to leave they saw that there was a house on fire just down the street. Luna asked Sam to keep an eye out for anyone as she called Ariel to put out the fire. Once the fire was out Luna did a quick search and found the occupants, a man, a woman, and a baby and removed them from the house. Luna and the two girls left quickly after making sure the people were okay. When they arrived at the school Luna told Petunia what had happened and what she had done, just to cover herself, then left to go get another student.

By the end of the day Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna were tired again. The soon-to-be first years had been shown their rooms by Petunia and Dudley and were given maps of the campus so they could find their way around easier. It was decided that Dudley would act as chaperone for the boys and Petunia for the girls for the new first years. McGonagall had persuaded Rick and Lucy to act as chaperones for the retuning students and they were already there since some of the students picked up were previous students.

It was 6pm when the group from Hogwarts port-keyed in and were directed to a single table for the meal. McGonagall stood and said she had a few announcements before the meal started. "First I want to welcome all of you to our first summer session. This will be an experimental session but you will be exposed to very highly qualified instructors. You will note that there are only two tables beside the head table, during this session you will not be divided into houses but divided by incoming and returning students. This and the end of session feasts will be the only times you will be seated formally, the rest of the meals – starting with breakfast tomorrow – will be served buffet style. The menu has been redone and will be much healthier and much lighter on sweets.

"At this time I want to introduce the newest instructors and give you all one of the first of many surprises. Your instructor for Herbology will be Neville Longbottom, he holds a Masters certification in that field. You primary instructor in Defense will be Harry Potter, he will also be helping out in Charms and Transfiguration – again he has his Masters in each subject. The lead instructor in Charms is Hermione Granger and she too will be helping in Transfiguration, she also holds a Masters certification in each of these subjects. Now I am sure most of the returning students are wondering why Harry, Hermione, and Neville are your instructors, well the short of it is that for the past few years these three have been going to school somewhere else and taking a full year of study in three months and have all graduated and obtained their Mastery level in their chosen subjects. I was only made aware of these certifications after OWLs and NEWTs this past year when it was Harry and Hermione who tested Prof. Flitwick and I for our own Masters.

"The chaperones for the returning students are Mr. Rick Green and Ms. Lucy West. Mr. Green was one of the ICW inspectors and one of the many that fought Voldemort this past year. You may remember Ms. West as the fill-in potions instructor and she is also a fully qualified Med-Witch and will be providing health care during this session. The chaperones for the incoming first years are Mrs. Dursley and her son Dudley. I am also pleased to announce that the school has obtained new brooms and some of those brooms will be made available for your use during free time. The next surprise is that while you will only be here for 28 days you will get 2 months of instruction as we will be using time compression, so nobody will be able to leave until the session is over except in an extreme emergency. I hope you all enjoy the fine meal prepared for us tonight and with that said, let the feast begin." McGonagall finished.

The incoming first years were taken back when food just appeared on the tables, but that didn't stop them from digging into the meal. There was much talk during the meal, especially from the returning students concerning Harry, Hermione, and Neville as instructors. The talk at the "freshmen" table was about all the wonders they had seen so far and each was wondering what else they would see while here.

After the meal McGonagall stood and reminded the students that breakfast started at 630am and the first class started at 8am. She also reminded the students that extra maps were available so there was no excuse for not finding the correct classroom and getting there on time. Harry stood and informed the students that he would be conducting voluntary fitness training starting at 530am each day and anyone interested was welcome to join him in front of the building each morning, if it wasn't raining. Then McGonagall suggested that the students follow their adults and unpack so they could get a good nights rest before classes.

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**A/N: Well, the first summer session has started. The next chapter will cover the first day of classes and possibly the rest of the summer session (just depends on how fruitful my imagination gets). If anyone would like the previous books in a ZIP or RAR archive just send me a PM or EMAIL and include your address and I will send it to you.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: thought I'd send this one out a little early**

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 3**

Following a good sleep Harry was up and outside by 520am, the only others who showed up were Hermione, Neville, Susan, Luna, Ron, and the Greengrass girls. The group did their warm-ups then started their run, Harry had already laid out the course. At about 6am Dudley showed up and saw the group off in the distance on their run, it was too late to try and catch up so he elected to do a few calisthenics instead. Dudley was still exercising when the group arrived back at the front of the school and joined them in getting a shower and then for breakfast, except he had to eat with the new kids and his mom.

It was during breakfast that Lucy pulled Harry aside and told him that McGonagall was a little under the weather and had asked that Harry take the first Transfiguration class for her since he didn't have a Defense class until after lunch. Harry, Hermione, and Neville passed out the schedules for the returning students while Lucy handed out the incoming students' schedules. For the returning students the first classes were Charms, Herbology, and Transfiguration so Hermione and Neville would be tied up all morning, Defense was scheduled for after lunch each day.

Harry was waiting when the first Transfiguration class entered noisily, but they settled down quickly. "Good morning, Prof. McGonagall isn't feeling well today so you have me. I know many of you have some questions so in the interest of saving time I will give you a few answers before starting this class. Yes, I did defeat Voldemort; yes I have had a lot more training than is offered at Hogwarts, and yes I did attend a school other then Hogwarts. Now that should answer the most obvious questions so we can get started on today's lesson. You will notice that you are not grouped by year but into two sections, 1st through 3rd years and then 4th through 6th years. This grouping will hold true for all the classes this session. We will start out with a quick review of what you should know and then progress onward. Does anyone have questions about the class, no questions about myself are allowed?" Harry explained and there were no questions of note.

Hermione and Neville each gave basically the same speech to their classes to explain the way the classes would be setup and how the students would be grouped. Meanwhile, Lucy was meeting with the incoming students and the first order of business was to tell them that each of them would be receiving a complete magical physical during that first week. This would reduce the load on the school med-witch when the fall term started as a physical was now required of all first years. In her room McGonagall was enjoying another cup of tea, she hated misleading Harry but thought it best if he explained the setup since most of it was his and Hermione's idea. Besides, she deserved a break since her summer vacation wasn't happening.

At Hogwarts, Prof. Flitwick, as Deputy Headmaster, was watching over the ongoing renovations while at the same time learning to use the computers that had been installed. Flitwick wasn't sure he would ever remember those passwords, one for administration and his personal logon. Several of the teachers were having the same problem, except they didn't have to remember an administration password. Prof. Vector was busy getting his class computer setup to handle Arithmancy, and the new Ancient Runes teacher was busy carefully drawing out Runes to be "scanned" into the computer system. Madame Pomfrey was getting used to the computer in the hospital wing, she still wasn't sure why all the first years had to have a magical physical within the first few week of school.

Harry covered the first two Transfiguration classes and then it was time for lunch, thank goodness since Harry wasn't sure how McGonagall did it when she taught. At lunch the three "new" instructors compared notes, Neville had had it the easiest as he was unwilling to answer questions about Harry other than to say it was true Harry had defeated Voldemort. McGonagall came in and explained why she had Harry take the first two Transfiguration classes and said she hoped to sit in on one of the afternoon Defense classes, if Harry didn't mind.

After lunch Harry had his first Defense class, he started it mostly like he had started the Transfiguration classes, with a review of what they should know. "I guess that most of you are wondering why I took a Mastery in Defense. Well since I was small I have known that one day I would have to face off against Voldemort and I wanted all the advantages I could get. Now my personal thoughts about Defense are these, Charms, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration are the basis for defense, with Charms and Transfiguration being the most important. When you are involved in a fight or a duel you use Charms and Transfiguration more than anything else, so if you want to be able to defend yourself then you need to know both Charms and Transfiguration. Now in the battle at Hogwarts this past spring we did use a few potions to aid in confusing the Death Eaters, but the majority of the battle was spells. We are going to start out with a small test so I can get an idea of where you all stand in Defense. As I call your name come up to the front of the class and tell us all what year you are, then I want you to cast a Reducto at the target on the wall, after which I want you to tell me what your best spell is and demonstrate it for me", Harry explained.

Since there were only 10 students it didn't take long to finish the little test. "Now I would like to ask the Headmistress to come up and show us her Reducto on the target. Just so you know, you will each repeat this little test when school starts in September and again just before school lets out next June and your scores will be compared to see if you have made any progress" Harry continued. McGonagall came up and shot a Reducto at the target, the score was of course the highest so far. Then Harry did it, without his wand, and the target almost melted. There were many amazed people in the room, "Oh I forgot to reset the target to a higher level. But you get the idea, the more you practice the better you become. Also, a strong body makes for stronger magic and stronger magic makes for better defense."

McGonagall didn't stay for the whole class but she later told Harry she was impressed with his teaching and his interactions with the students. "You appear to be a natural when it comes to teaching and I hope you will continue in that field. It would be to the gain of your students if you did", McGonagall finished. While Harry taught his second Defense class, Hermione was doing the introduction to flying for the incoming students; and McGonagall was again watching the class to see how it went. The surprise was when one of the muggle-born students got her broom to jump into her hand on the first try, an even bigger surprise was that one of the students was a "pure-blood" and he had to try three times before the broom did as asked.

The talk at the returning student's table that night was about Harry and his score in Defense. The talk at the incoming table was about the student who had gotten her broom to respond so well. That night Harry and Hermione made sure they had a little time to themselves away from everyone else. They not only talked about how their first day as instructors had gone but about what they wanted for the future for themselves. Harry surprised Hermione when he gave her a nice diamond ring and asked if she would consider being his wife, Harry almost didn't survive the response but did enjoy the kisses and hugs. Now Hermione had a problem, how was she supposed to tell her parents since she was in time compression and they weren't.

Dudley was up and outside by 515am the next morning waiting for Harry and the gang. The big issue that morning was all the girls looking at Hermione's ring and all the guys complaining that now they would have to try and do as well when they decided to get married. Dudley joined the rest in the warm-ups and was told to not try and go as far or as long as the rest until he was used to the running.

McGonagall was doing her Transfiguration class so Harry could go do what he had planned to do yesterday, meet with the incoming students. After everyone was settled Lucy introduced Harry to the group. "Good morning, I was supposed to do this yesterday but something came up so here I am today. A few of you know me since I was the one who picked you up and brought you here or I was the one who made that first contact with you and your family. For those who are still asleep my name is Harry Potter and I will be your Defense instructor come September, I may also be teaching Charms and Transfiguration on occasion as I am qualified in all three subjects. What I wanted to do today was personally welcome you to the first ever summer session and to explain a little about those three subjects I teach. Charms is the backbone of most of the magic you will learn when regular school starts, in Charms your first year you will learn how to make things float in the air" and Harry made a few of the books float up. "Now that isn't as easy as it looks and I did that without my wand or saying the proper incantation, but you will be expected to do that same thing with a wand and the incantation _Wingardium Leviosa_ once you get in class. Transfiguration is just that changing one thing into another, like a beetle into a button", which Harry demonstrated, "plus you'll learn to change other things. One of the hardest Transfiguration spells is the Animagus Transfiguration where you change yourself into an animal. Now I will show you what I mean but you have to understand that not everyone can accomplish this and that you don't have to be afraid of my animal form." Harry changed into his snake form, waited a few minutes while everyone came up to see him then changed back.

"The third course I wanted to explain is Defense, which is a combination of the first two subjects plus a few other 'tricks' and spells. Defense is also my strongest subject and my favorite. In Defense you learn how to recognize different dangerous creatures such as Werewolves and how to defend yourself, your family, and your friends. One of the first things you will learn is how to shield yourself from simple spells. I am going to ask Ms. West to throw a few simple spells at me and I will show you what I mean." Lucy cast a tickling hex at Harry who just shrugged it off, next she tried a jelly-legs and Harry's shield deflected it. "In Defense you will learn about what are called the unforgivable three which are spells that cause harm and are considered illegal or dark. But in reality there is no such thing as a dark spell, just an evil intent on the part of the caster. The first unforgivable is the Cruciatus which causes pain, but when first used it was a treatment for mental illness in a milder form. The next one is the Imperius which is used to control someone, but again it originally had a good use – to help control violent individuals and keep them from harming others. The third is the Killing Curse, this was originally used to euthanize someone who was incurable and in great pain – in other words to put them out of their misery whether it be a human or an animal." Harry continued.

"There is one more course I want to touch on and that is Potions. Ms. West is what is known as a Potions Mistress, which means she has studied Potions so much she has been declared a master at it. Potions is a lot like cooking and girls are sometimes better at this skill than boys since they have been trained at home by their mothers. As an example at home when your mother wants to make a cake she knows that she needs some of this and some of that in certain amounts and that once mixed together it has to cook for a specific amount of time. It is the same with Potions, you have a recipe that tells you how much of this and how much of that and how long to cook it for it to turn out correctly. My first Potions instructor at Hogwarts had a speech he gave to first years in the first class and I want to repeat part of that speech. '_I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death_'. Now some would say he was full of it, but I can honestly say he meant every word and was 99% correct. Everything he claimed he could do with the correct potion, can be done if you know what you are mixing and how to mix it." Harry finished up.

The look of wonder on the faces before him made Harry happy inside. Some of these kids would find, as he had, that magic was wonderful and fun. "Now there is one more thing that I need to speak on and that is wands. Over the next few weeks each of you will be asked to try and select your wand by seeing what wood and core components are best for you. Like Mr. Ollivander says 'The wand chooses the wizard' and there is always one person who needs something out of the ordinary. Mr. Ollivander is getting on in years and I hope one of you will show an interest and follow in his footsteps. His family has been crafting wands since 382 B.C. and he is the foremost wand craftsmen in Europe today, one of only four known throughout the world. Of the other three I have met one and he does his work only in America. In the future Hogwarts hopes to be able to offer the training needed to help someone become a fine wand craftsmen, as well as a maker of other magical aids. Now I have bored you long enough and I know that Ms. West needs to get on with your lessons, but I will take a few questions if you have any" Harry concluded.

There were a few questions but the one Dudley asked was the best as far a Harry was concerned since he had forgotten to include it in his talk. "Prof. Potter, is it true that a strong body makes for stronger magic and stronger magic makes for a better defense?" Dudley asked.

"Yes Mr. Dursley you are correct and I believe you heard that from me. The stronger the body the more magic you can develop and handle. One of the reasons I am able to handle so much magic is because I keep my body in shape and strong. This allows my magical core to handle a larger amount of magic, magic which I have access to when needed. That is why I offered to instruct any student in physical conditioning each morning at 530am. So far, besides a few of my friends, you are the only one to take me up on that offer." Harry replied.

The following morning there were several of the new boys out front at 530am, some were thin and some were heavy, but at least they showed up. Harry had them all go through the warm-up and then asked Dudley to lead them in some simple exercises, but offered to allow any that wanted to join in the 6 mile run with the more advanced group – there was only one taker and he only lasted 2 miles before falling out on the ground. Once he had finished his run Harry returned to the new group and told them that it took time to get to the same level as those who had been doing this for over a year, but not to give up hope and that when they went home to use a gym if they had access and do exercises that increased endurance. Now it was time for showers and breakfast.

The first week had ended and it was the first "day off" for all of the students, most were using the time to socialize with their classmates, but some of the "soon to be" 2nd years were talking to the newcomers. It was at this time that the staff got together to compare notes and make suggestions. Neville said that some of the newcomers had shown an interest in Herbology when he talked to them. Hermione mentioned that a few had shown interest in Charms but most appeared bored when she spoke to the class, Lucy tried to let her down easy but said that maybe that was because Hermione had been to formal. McGonagall said that since Harry had already spoken to the group he had really opened the door for her talk and she appreciated it. Now Lucy spoke up and said that she had found two newcomers who had blocks that needed to be removed, and they were in muggle-born students which she found unusual. It was agreed that Lucy should notify Poppy so that the blocks could be removed when the Fall term started. Harry mentioned that if they ever got any 7th years to attend they would need to change the way they held classes as they shouldn't need as much review and would be more focused on retaking NEWTs.

Rick had a suggestion and that was that a permanent set of chaperones should be found so they would know what to expect, and they needed to have had kids so they could relate better. Harry asked if the group thought it might be time to start testing for wand compatibility for the newcomers. Nobody could think of a reason not to start the testing so Harry said he would probably start that afternoon with Bonnie, and ask Sam to help out since the two were so close. That afternoon Harry approached Bonnie and Sam and asked if Bonnie was ready to see what type of wand she would need. Bonnie was excited but scared at the same time, until Sam said it was nothing to it - "You just wave a wand around and see which one works best". Harry explained that he didn't test that way and said for Sam to come along and she could watch and maybe retest herself.

Harry had only brought a small selection of materials, those considered most common, with him. "Now I assume that you two have shared Sam's wand at least once or twice. Don't be alarmed that is very common between friends and I don't have a problem with that unless you try something that gets you hurt or in trouble. Lets see what kind of wood reacts to Bonnie and then we'll see what type of core reacts to her", Harry explained. The wood turned out to be Hawthorne and when Bonnie went to try the core components she got a strong reaction from Unicorn hair. Next Harry examined Sam's wand and found it to be Maple with Unicorn hair, very close to what Bonnie would need. But when Sam tried the wood selection it wasn't Maple that reacted, it was Holly. The core was still Unicorn hair that reacted best. Harry said that he would trade out a Holly and Unicorn wand for Sam's Maple and Unicorn wand when school started and it would be an even trade as he made a note in the book of students to send to Ollivander. With Sam and Bonnie's help Harry went through almost all of the newcomer girls that afternoon, only one would require a specialty wand as none of the usual woods or cores reacted to her.

While Harry had been busy testing the girls for wand requirements, Hermione had been the center of attention of the boys as she "formed". It appeared that many of the boys had not seen a young woman in tights and leotards do Tai Chi before. Hermione was slightly embarrassed and so were the younger boys, but she offered to teach them what she knew if they were interested. "But boys don't do that" was heard from one of the boys and Hermione informed them all that it was Harry who had taught her how to "form" and that Neville joined in without any problem. Now Hermione had a few new students to teach and she did much better at teaching Tai Chi than at teaching Charms, less formal and informative. After an hour long lesson one of the 2nd years said he wished she taught Charms in the same manner it was much more interesting this way.

Over the next week Harry managed to test all of the newcomer boys for wands, most would take a "standard" wand and would not be a problem for Ollivander. But one boy seemed to not react to any type of wood or core combination, it was one of the students that Lucy had said would need his core unblocked. Unsure if Lucy had told the boy he had blocks on him, Harry decided not to say anything at that time. Harry also tested any student who showed difficulty with Charms, Defense, or Transfiguration to see if maybe the problem was the wrong wand, he found two who he thought would benefit from a different combination and told them to see him once the regular term started.

The summer session was half over when it was announced that there would be a precision flying exhibition on the next free day. Harry, Hermione, Daphne, and Tori would be doing the demonstrations and all students were encouraged to attend so they could see what was possible. The first demonstration was Harry and Hermione flying and passing a ball between themselves so well that most of the students couldn't tell who had the ball when. Next Hermione and Daphne did the same thing but it was easy to tell who had the ball. When Tori and Harry did a Seeker demonstration the crowd got to see a Potter Special as Harry changed directions completely and left Tori flying the wrong way and out of position. Not to be out done, Tori tried the same trick and wiped out – hard. After seeing she was okay Harry laughed at Tori and commented loudly that a person shouldn't try something they hadn't done before without a safety net of some sort.

It was the last day of the summer session and Rick said that he had a new assignment for Lucy if she was interested since the threat to Harry was finally over. When Lucy asked what the new assignment was Rick just pulled a small box from his pocket and said that the new assignment was to be Mrs. Richard Green, "Will you marry me Lucy?". Lucy's response was two words, "YES when?" Rick said he thought Christmas break would be good, they could make it a double wedding as Remus and Tonks were getting married then also. The mood was broken when Hermione said it would have to be a triple wedding as she and Harry had decided to wed during Christmas break also. Everyone looked at Neville and Susan and all Neville said was "next summer after school is out since Susan will have taken her NEWTs by then."

Sunday July 28th, actual time, was another busy day for Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna since all the students they had brought to school had to go home. The only thing that happened was that Luna received many thanks for her actions with the house fire that last time she was in the hamlet. Nobody but Sam and Bonnie's parents knew what had happened but they thanked Luna repeatedly. Now came what Harry had been dreading, telling everyone outside the school about his and Hermione's upcoming wedding. Boy was he surprised to find out that while he had been in time compression Sirius and Amelia had gotten married and they thought Amelia might be pregnant. Sirius' response was "Congratulations and it is about time". Hermione's parents were what Harry dreaded the most, Dan asked if his daughter was pregnant and got hit by his wife and Hermione, Harry just blushed real brightly. Emma's response was almost the same as Sirius' except she asked "When are you planning on doing the ceremony, and what type will it be magical or normal?" Hermione answered that one, "We have planned on having the wedding over Christmas break and if possible doing both magical and 'normal'. Now we just need to decide on who will be in the wedding party as Maid of Honor and Best-man."

* * *

**A/N: So the first summer term is finished and a date has been set for Harry and Hermione's wedding, and Dan didn't try to kill Harry. The next chapter will finish out the summer and the start of Fall term. The offer for a complete book is still open and the choices are ODT, PDF, HTML, or EPUB. Just send an email with your address and your choice – EPUB will be one file while the other two will be an archive of the chapters for that book. All books aren't available in HTML, just the first three.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	4. Chapter 4

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 4**

After telling all the pertinent people about the upcoming wedding Harry and Hermione returned to Potter Manor for a well deserved rest and meal. Both Harry and Hermione were surprised to see Dobby still in his "uniform" and even more surprised to see several other elves in the same uniform walking around the property. When Harry asked what was going on Dobby said it had been decided that Harry needed more protection than most wizards and they had set up a roving patrol for the Manor and he was in charge of it. Harry just smiled and Hermione giggled a little, they were a well protected wizard and witch.

When they entered the manor they found another surprise, all the elves were now in uniform, the males were in tunic and pants and the females were in either dresses or skirts and blouses and each had the House of Potter crest on their left upper chest. Daisy was there but her uniform had a second crest on it, the crest of the Black family that Hermione represented. "Will Lady Hermione be sleeping in her room or that of Lord Potter now that you are betrothed?", Daisy asked and Hermione blushed, as did Harry. Hermione said that for the time being she would stay in her own room.

The following morning Harry and Hermione were up and outside at 530am and by 6am they were running their 6 miles. After their run the two went and swam for a a few laps, then showered and then came down for breakfast. The two didn't have any set plans for the next few weeks and were surprised when the mail came and it included a letter from Alana.

_Dear Harry,_

_We have discovered a 9 year old girl who has your name and that of Ms. Granger's' family, Black. Usually we would just settle her in with our other students but as we know the both of you, and she is an orphan, I thought it best if you were notified and given the chance to visit her and talk with her. She is a potter in the truest sense of the word as she makes pottery as a hobby, and does it quite well. From what we can determine she is what you Brits call a "muggle-born" and is attuned to both Earth and Air._

_Her name is Elizabeth Marie Potter and she came to our attention due to an incident of "accidental" magic that involved her adopted father and several bullies. It appears that the bullies tried to intimidate the "father" and when one of them pulled a gun Lizzy, as she prefers to be called, called up an Air elemental while a mount of earth rose up to protect the father. According to Lizzy, this is the first time Annie, as she calls her elemental, has shown herself to anyone except Lizzy. The bullies were found several miles away in a very tall tree, the local fire department had to be called to get them down. All of the men were known to the local police and were wanted men._

_When I talked to Lizzy she said Annie first showed up when she was four and had been around from time to time ever since. The last time Lizzy remembers seeing Annie was when a tornado destroyed her house and killed her parents. Annie protected Lizzy and then disappeared only to show up again a year later when Lizzy needed help in the worse way._

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Alana_

"Well, want to go to America and see a 9 year old girl?" Harry asked after Hermione had read the letter. Hermione's response was "Give me an hour to get ready"

The two decided to wait until after lunch to go as that would take advantage of the time differential between England and America. The trip was uneventful as they just port-keyed straight to Peaks from the manor arriving just after breakfast for Alana, who was glad to see her two favorite students. The three talked about the first summer session that had just finished and Alana was glad to hear it had gone so well. Now it was time to go visit Lizzy at her home.

Alana apparated to the house and Harry and Hermione just followed along behind. Alana took the lead as she was known to the family and the young girl. After introductions were made Harry explained that it was thought that he might be related to Lizzy and as such he had come only to talk with her.

"Alana has told me what happened before you met her and I would like to hear the story from you Lizzy. Let me say up front that I don't doubt any of it, I just want to hear it from your view." Harry said.

Lizzy looked a little frightened but told her story anyway. After she had finished Hermione asked if Lizzy knew much about her relatives on either side of her family. Lizzy explained that as far as she knew her father's family had come over from England, as had her mother's family but she knew very little about her mother's family. She had met her grandfather and it had been he who gotten her interested in making pottery and had taught her how to identify and collect natural clay for her work. "You know, I just remembered it but before the only time Annie showed up was when I had my 'magic stick' that daddy made me." Lizzy said and this caused looks to pass between the three visitors.

When asked Lizzy said her daddy had taken a piece of wood and whittled her a "magic wand" after she asked for one when she heard the tale of Snow White. "Daddy worked on that stick for a long time and I had forgotten about it by the time he finished, but it was one of the best gifts I ever got because he made it for me" Lizzy sad tearfully.

Hermione asked Lizzy if she thought she could get Annie to come back, but outside of course. Lizzy said she didn't know and she hadn't called Annie in a long time until those men tried to hurt her new daddy. The two went outside and Lizzy tried to call her friend Annie, nothing happened. Hermione asked Lizzy if she could keep a secret and Lizzy nodded her head. Hermione called Windy and asked her if maybe she knew Lizzy's friend Annie. Windy said she would check to see if any of the other elementals knew the one called Annie or the human called Lizzy. Windy disappeared for a few minutes, during which time Lizzy had a few questions such as "Can anyone do that? How did you learn to do that?" Hermione answered the questions by saying, "Only special people can do that and Alana was the one who taught me how when I was about your age".

Windy came back and was accompanied by another elemental, Annie. Both Lizzy and Annie were surprised to see each other and Windy explained to Hermione that the reason Annie had come to Lizzy's rescue was because she had gotten worried when she hadn't heard from her human in a long time and came to check on her. While Annie and Lizzy caught up with each other, so did Hermione and Windy. It wasn't too long before Harry came out to tell Hermione that they were about ready to leave, that was when he saw Annie and knew that Lizzy would be going to either Peaks or Hogwarts that coming September.

Harry got Lizzy's attention and asked her if she would mind telling him more about her family as the more he heard the more he thought she was related to him and Hermione. It turned out that the "magic stick" was made from a fallen branch off of the tree in their yard and wasn't a wand after all, just a special gift from father to daughter. Lizzy was surprised when Harry spoke to Annie and Annie answered him; nobody had ever spoken to Annie but Lizzy and Annie had never spoken to anyone else. Harry explained that like Hermione he had a special friend and that he had found out that these special friends could hear anybody but just their friends could hear them. "Hermione and I both talk with Windy and I can usually understand what Windy has to say. If I have trouble then I ask Windy to call her brother Windford and he explains everything to me or I call him myself. I have another friend named Firebeard, he is made of fire and was one of my first friends. Would you like to meet him sometime?" Harry explained as Lizzy nodded her head.

It was finally decided that the only way to be sure was to ask the Goblins to do a linage test on Lizzy. That was when they found out that a couple of elves had been following Harry and Hermione around ever since they left the Manor. One of the elves explained that Dobby had sent them to keep watch on Lord Harry's back and to keep him safe, but to remain unseen. The elf said that as Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter he had the means to determine the linage of a person close enough so as to not need to pay the Goblins for doing it unless it concerned major issues within the bloodline. Harry was told that all he had to do was to call Gustus and he would explain it a lot better, Gustus was called and he did explain that Harry could determine his own bloodline without paying a fee to the Goblins. The only time you had to pay the Goblins for that was when it concerned a major issue with the bloodline that only they could decide. Gustus sent the younger elf back to the Manor to get a few items from the Master's study.

When the elf arrived back he had several sheets of parchment, a few silver pins, and a couple of potions. The procedure was explained as Harry and whoever he wanted tested each placed a drop of blood on the parchment, on opposite ends, and then dropped some of the potion onto the parchment. If the two people were related then the drops of blood would meet in the middle, if not then they wouldn't. Harry explained the procedure to Lizzy and she said she would try it since she too was curious now. When Lizzy and Harry tried the test the two drops of blood jumped to the middle of the sheet and the same thing happened when Hermione's blood was used. So, it was decided that Lizzy was related to both Harry and Hermione's bloodlines, this provided another link between the two houses, one an Ancient and Noble house and the other an Ancient house only.

It came time to decide where Lizzy would attend school, Peaks or Hogwarts, if she went to Peaks then she could start in September whereas if she attended Hogwarts then it would be two years before she was eligible. The only fair thing to do was to ask Lizzy her preference. Lizzy's adoptive parents said that it was up to her, if she really was related to Harry then she should stay close to family. If she wanted to go to England to go to school then the would find a way to pay for it. That was when Harry said no matter where Lizzy went to school her costs would be covered by the House of Potter even if Lizzy elected to not attend either school the cost were to be covered.

Lizzy was confused and asked if she had to decide right then, Hermione told her "Of course not, you have two to three weeks to decide. We would need a week to get you set up, moved, and all your supplies gathered. This isn't the type of decision you make quickly. Since you are related to both Harry and I we will see to it that you have as much time as you need to decide. There are advantages to both schools and disadvantages to both schools so it isn't an easy thing to decide. The only thing is that you will have to attend one of them so you learn how to use your skills without hurting yourself or anyone else."

As Harry, Hermione and Alana were leaving a car pulled up and two men got out and approached the house. "Hey old man we don't know how you did it but you got our friends arrested and we intend to make you pay for that" one of the men shouted. That was the last anyone heard from the two men as they were both caught in the sights of Harry, Hermione, and Alana, but it was Lizzy who jumped in front of her dad and shouted "NO, YOU WILL NOT HURT MY DAD" and a burst of energy came from nowhere and the two were gone. Harry, Hermione, and Alana looked at each other and none of them had done anything. "That is a very strong young witch, we might need to consider binding her magic until she gets in school." Alana said. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and shook their heads, that would be a very last resort type thing.

Lizzy was crying when Harry walked over and knelt down in front of her and asked quietly, "Where did you send them Lizzy? We aren't mad but we need to find them so they won't hurt anyone else." "I don't know where they went. I was just thinking they were going to hurt my dad and they needed to leave us alone. Then I felt something kind of snap inside of me and they were gone" Lizzy replied. Harry was puzzled what they had just seen was an accidental magical outburst and he was sure someone would be here soon to investigate. It wasn't five minutes later when two people, a man and a woman, popped into view and approached the house. Alana intercepted them and explained what had happened, the man got a little rude and said this was the second incident and if they had to fix another of the girl's messes they might have to just bind her magic, permanently. His woman partner saw the looks in Harry and Hermione's eyes, raised her hands, and started to back away. Harry exploded on the man and read him the riot act up until the man went for a wand.

The female member of the response team said she had warned the man that he was going to run into someone who wouldn't take the bad attitude very well and might just respond in the same manner. She said her name was Shelia and that she needed to call a supervisor. Harry told her that might be a good idea, a supervisor would be needed. The team's supervisor showed up shortly and tried to release his man, but nothing worked. The supervisor thought he recognize Alana and once he was sure he asked her what had happened. Alana explained that they observed the outburst of magic in response to a threat and that when they tried to explain this to the response team the male member just threatened to try and bind the young girl's magic. This statement upset Harry who tried to explain that binding the magic wasn't the answer, the man tried to draw his wand but Harry and Hermione had been quicker with wand-less magic.

The supervisor took another look at Harry, then smiled. "Aren't you the guy who asked for some help with a particular dark wizard a few months back over in England?" Harry just nodded his head. The supervisor walked over and held out his hand, "I was one of the volunteers and it is a pleasure to shake your hand. I guess this idiot was lucky you didn't have that sword with you. If you don't mind, could you release this idiot so I can remove him from his duties and get him out of my squad?" Harry laughed and released the man only to have him try again to get a wand out, this time his own supervisor stunned him and took him away after telling the female to make sure her report was complete – including the part about her ex-partner being an idiot.

Once the supervisor left Harry started to laugh and was soon joined by Hermione, Alana, and then Shelia. Shelia talked with Lizzy first and got the same story she had told Harry. Shelia made sure to document everything and by the time she was finished her report was several pages thick. Before she left Harry asked her if she could do anything about the car parked out front, the one the two guys who disappeared had left. Shelia said she thought it might be best if the car was taken as evidence of why she and her ex-partner had been sent there anyway. Shelia left after shrinking the car and putting it in her pocket.

Lizzy was almost speechless watching how easily Harry, Hermione, and Alana dealt with the situation, not to mention the magic they had used. Lizzy knew that she needed to learn all about magic now so she could do all those cool things too. Lizzy's adopted dad was also amazed at what he had seen, and what his daughter had done to protect him and his family. Harry, Hermione and Alana said their good-byes again and left.

When the trio arrived back at Peaks they decided to give Lizzy a few weeks to make up her mind but Harry repeated that as a Potter her educational needs were to be covered by him. Hermione's comment of "We'll talk about that later" brought a smile to Alana's face. Alana suggested they sit down and enjoy a late lunch or afternoon snack and they could catch her up on what was happening back in England. The three friends talked until it was time for supper and Harry and Hermione were invited to stay the night, they accepted after sending a message back to Potter Manor letting Gustus know of their plans.

In a lonely shack in the middle of nowhere two men suddenly appeared out of thin air, very thin air, and their appearance disrupted an experiment and cause an explosion. The person conducting the experiment was tall, thin, had dark hair that looked oily, and had a hook nose. He was not pleased that the two men had interrupted his experiment and made his displeasure known to them. When one of the men attempted to point a weapon at the man they both found themselves tied up with very strong ropes with the man was pointing a stick at them, again with those sticks. Shortly afterward a young woman arrived at the shack and introduced herself as Shelia. When she heard what had happened and saw the two men she just smiled and told the occupant that she would remove the two mundane men as they were wanted by her supervisor in connection to another case. The woman and her "guests" left shortly and were never seen again by the occupant of the shack, which suited him just fine.

When Harry and Hermione woke up the next morning and prepared to do their daily run they were surprised to find a note from the MBI saying the two men from the day before had been located and had been dealt with and they should not be any further problem since they couldn't remember their own names. Harry just laughed out loud and showed the note to Hermione who joined him in the laugh. When they saw Alana she had already been told about the men and said the MBI was very efficient at times and that Lizzy would have one less thing to worry about now. It was after breakfast when a crow arrived with a letter for Alana, from Lizzy.

_Dear Ms. Grimmore,_

_I know this is much quicker than you expected but I have made up my mind about school. Harry and Hermione both explained that here I could start school come September while if I went to England then I would have to wait until I was 11 to learn about my special skills. After yesterday and talking with my dad, I have decided to ask if you could ask Harry and Hermione to come back to see me as I have questions for the two of them. I would be glad to see you also as you could probably answer some of the questions – like what happened to those two men yesterday? Am I going to be in trouble if they don't find them? Will they come back to cause my dad more trouble?_

_I found out last night that I can call my friend Annie if I think very hard about her and really want to see her. Annie explained that the more often I call her the easier it will be to reach her, she also explained that Hermione's friend Windy has told her many things and that now she was friends with Windy too. I was surprised when Windy showed up last night and I could almost understand what she was saying before Annie repeated it. Windy said she had come to see me because Annie asked her too and her mother had said she could._

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Lizzy Potter_

Alana showed the letter to Harry and Hermione then it was time to go see Lizzy and hear her answer in person as well as to try to answer some of her questions. Hermione had a few questions for Lizzy also concerning Windy's visit the night before. When the three adults knocked on Lizzy's door it was opened by her father and they were welcomed inside. Once Lizzy had joined them Alana explained that the two men had been found and they wouldn't be causing any more problems, at least not for Lizzy or her family. "You remember the young lady from yesterday who took that car away? Well, it seems that she was sent out to take care of another problem and it turned out that the two men had interrupted an experiment and caused an explosion. The person doing the experiment was explaining how rude it was to just appear out of thing air and disrupt his experiment when one of the men tried to use a weapon. The two men were given to the law to have their memories adjusted, but it seems they were wanted by the non-magical law also. So only the information concerning your family and what happened yesterday was removed and they were sent to jail for a very long time. Shelia also said to tell you that thanks to you a few criminals have been caught and put in jail and that if you come across any more just to let her know and she will have them picked up for you."

The smile on Lizzy's face was bright enough to light up the room. Hermione told Lizzy that she took after Harry in that he had a thing about putting bad guys out of the picture. Hermione looked at Harry and mouthed the word "Draco" which cause Harry smile even bigger. "Now Lizzy Alana tells us you have a few questions for Harry and I; so ask and we will try to give you some answers" Hermione said.

"If I decided to go to England is there any way I could start learning about magic now instead of waiting 2 more years? If I stay here and go with Ms. Grimmore will I ever see you and Harry again? Why is it just now that I find out I had family in England and not when my mom and dad were killed? Why did that weird test with my blood show the same reaction to Hermione as it did to Harry?" Lizzy asked.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and then at Alana before Harry started to answer, "Well, you sure ask some interesting questions and I think I will try and answer the last one first. The reason that blood test reacted the same way to Hermione's blood as mine is that you are related to her also. It would appear that somewhere way back in your family history your mother's family was an offshoot of the same family as Hermione's so you two are related just like you are related to the Potters. Does that make any sense to you or did I just confuse you more?"

"Oh, in a way it makes sense. I'm related to you on my father's side of the family, but related to Hermione on my mother's side. Is that right?" Lizzy replied.

"Right as rain there Lizzy, as these Americans say. In answer to another question, it wasn't until Alana heard your name and saw you that we even knew about you. Neither Harry or myself knew we had any long distance relations over here in the States. If the records here are as messed up as the ones in England there might not even be a record of our ancestors even coming here to the States. As to whether or not you would ever see us again if you go to school at Peaks, the answer is you would see us more often than you think thanks to one of Harry's special abilities. We would not forget you or about you. Besides, you are invited to our wedding which we plan on doing during the Christmas break." Hermione relied as Alana got a surprised look on her face. "You didn't tell me you two were getting married. What kind of friend is that?" Alana interjected.

Everyone got a laugh at that statement and Hermione just blushed. "You would have been told when everyone else was, when they got their invitation. As to Lizzy's question about starting early in England, I have been thinking about that. Harry and I could arrange something similar to what was done for us, private tutors." Hermione continued.

Lizzy just sat there for a few minutes then looked at her father, "What do you think? For the past year you have taken me in and raised me as your own. But now I find that I have additional family I didn't know about and would like to get to know them, but I don't want to hurt you and mom in doing this."

"Elizabeth Marie Potter, you know how we both feel about you. But you also know that family is the most important thing a person can have. We never even considered asking you to change your last name to ours because of that. You won't be hurting us any more than when you are an adult and move out to be with your new husband or move off to college. So if you want to go with Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger then I say enjoy your new additional family, but don't forget us since we love you just like our own child we never had." was the tearful answer the old man gave to Lizzy's question.

"You know I think Lizzy should stay here and go to Peaks for the next two years then when she is ready she can go to Hogwarts or continue at Peaks – her choice. It not that I don't want her around I would love to have a younger cousin or sister. But Lizzy you have something I didn't when I was growing up, you have a family that loves and cares about you. During school you wouldn't get to see much of Hermione and I anyway since we would be at Hogwarts and you would be somewhere else. This way you can spend your summers with us and still see your wonderful family. The important thing is that you learn to control your magic so it doesn't cause you or anyone else any problems. I will make sure you have a special wand and anything else you need to make it easier for you but the one thing I can't give you is the love of, your parents, your family that you already have." Harry replied as he dried his own tears.

The decision was made, Lizzy would stay and attend Peaks and Harry and Hermione would visit as often as they could. Lizzy would spend time in the summer with Harry and Hermione as they toured around the US. Lizzy accompanied Harry, Hermione, and Alana back to Peaks where she was able to select her wand and core materials. She would end up with a Willow, Eagle feather, and Basalt wand, finding the Basalt wasn't easy but Harry had Lizzy's wand almost complete by the end of the day. Harry and Hermione ended up spending the night again but this time at Lizzy's house, the only problem was that Harry and Hermione had to share a bedroom and bed. "As close as you two are that shouldn't be a problem" was Alana's comment as she laughed and left.

Harry and Hermione got to experience something new, a family dinner that hadn't had any magic used in its preparation at all. Lizzy was especially proud when Harry and Hermione asked for a second helping of her dessert, a bread pudding with raisins and a caramel base. When Hermione suggested that she help with the dishes magically Lizzy asked "Why, when we have to do them without magic anyway. Besides it only takes a few minutes to load them in the dishwasher and turn it on". Hermione was unable to answer that question and she had never seen a dishwasher before since her mother never had one.

Sharing a room was one thing but sharing a bed was something neither Harry nor Hermione had ever considered. Since they had not come prepared to stay for two days they would have to transfigure something to sleep in. For Harry it was just a simple pair of pajamas but Hermione had other thoughts and had been looking at a few catalogs with Lizzy and had seen several different types of sleepwear for women, and none of them were the type of pajamas she slept in at home. Once the two had gotten used to the idea of sleeping together they did enjoy the closeness of each other. Harry woke up first and discovered that he had a face of bushy hair, he was holding something very soft, and he needed to go to the bathroom. His movement woke Hermione and she discovered that she liked the feeling of Harry holding her and she had something poking her in the rear, oops that was Harry.

After several seconds of embarrassment the two worked everything out to their satisfaction, for now. Harry soon realized that it was way too early for breakfast and that he might as well go for a run. He told Hermione where he was going and she said she would join him if he would wait a few minutes so she could change. All this talking and moving around woke Lizzy and she asked if she could join them, she would need a few minutes to get her clothes changes and her shoes on.

The three of them were enjoying their run when Lizzy asked if they had to go so slow, it turned out Lizzy liked to run and usually ran about four miles but at a little faster pace. Hermione told her to set the pace and she and Harry would keep up. The three were really enjoying the run and with a much more comfortable pace for everyone. When they reached the two mile mark Harry asked if Lizzy wanted to turn back or continue on with him and Hermione as they usually ran six to ten miles at a time. Lizzy said she could do the six, so they continued on their way for another mile before circling back.

When the threesome reached the house again Lizzy was winded but said she felt good, then she called first use of the bathroom for her shower. Harry and Hermione just used a simple charm to clean themselves and then transfigured their clothes into clean ones similar to what they had worn the day before. Mrs. Nelson fixed them a simple country breakfast of bacon, eggs, hot biscuits, grits, and gravy along with juice and fresh coffee, there was milk for Lizzy since they thought she was too young to have coffee. Harry and Hermione had never had biscuits or grits before and they were excited to try something new. When Lizzy asked if they wanted some homemade jam for their biscuits Hermione said yes and fell in love with peach jam.

After finishing breakfast Harry asked if there was anything he could help with as he wasn't really used to just sitting around. Mr. Nelson said he did have a few chores to do and that if Harry wanted to change into some comfortable clothes and help he was welcome to. Harry transfigured his clothes into something similar to what Mr. Nelson was wearing and went out to help. It turned out what they were trying to do was remove a very stubborn stump from the middle of a field. Harry asked if it might be easier to just blow the stump up and was told that they would need a special permit to get any type of explosive. Harry asked if Mr. Nelson wanted the stump moved quickly and then cast a Reducto at the stump which exploded into small pieces. While Mr. Nelson was starring at the hole in the ground Harry gathered up all the pieces of wood into a pile so they would be easier to take away. "There no explosives needed and nobody saw anything. I would be in trouble if it wasn't for the fact you already knew about magic. I don't use magic if there is anyway to do something without it. But, in this case I see it as a chance to help you and in a small way thank you for all you and Mrs. Nelson have done for Lizzy, I hope you don't mind." Harry said.

"Young man if it is that easy for you to remove stumps, how about removing a few more. These are even more remote so unless someone flies over nobody will see a thing. But one question, can you do it so that the pieces are a little bigger and we can use them for firewood this winter." Mr. Nelson asked.

Harry had a better idea, he transfigured the wood pieces into a couple of chairs and asked if they were okay. Mr. Nelson looked them over and said they were really good and would be useful around the house. Harry sent the chairs to the house,up to the bedroom where he and Hermione had stayed. Harry was shown the other stumps and saw that they were larger and a different type of wood. Harry asked if they should be turned into firewood or more furniture and was told that firewood was always useful, but so were good chairs as the chairs could be sold or used as gifts. The stumps became furniture and the Nelsons would have to finish them by sanding and sealing them.

When Harry and Mr. Nelson got back to the house Hermione wanted to know where the furniture had come from and Harry told her. Lizzy asked when she would be able to do magic like that and was told that the transfiguration would be after her third year at Hogwarts if she was a student right now and a first year. The Reducto probably after second year, it depended on her strength – her magical core strength. Harry disappeared for around an hour to retrieve Lizzy's wand and once he was back he had her claim it before she was allowed to try it out on a simple spell. Hermione wasn't surprised when Lizzy was able to do a simple household spell that most girls learned by her age at Peaks, the Repairo spell.

Harry and Hermione were reluctant to say farewell but they had to get back to England. It was this need that provided for Lizzy seeing another of Harry's special skills, he turned into a phoenix to flash them home. They promised Lizzy they would return before school started to take her to get her school supplies and then take her to school. Lizzy had to promise not to try any more magic until she had been taught the correct way. Alana had said that since Lizzy was a relative of one of her best students she would come by from time to time to see if Lizzy or her parents needed anything. What Harry didn't tell anyone was that he would arrange for a small monthly deposit to the Nelson's bank account to help cover some of their expenses.

As soon as Harry and Hermione had arrived back at Potter Manor they had to explain where they had been and why. When Dobby heard that Harry had a new family member he made sure that there was an elf watching over Lizzy at all times just in case. Harry and Hermione had arrived just in time for supper, so they enjoyed the meal prepared for them before they started to try and catch up with what had been neglected while they were away. Hermione also decided that she liked waking up next to Harry and that they would continue to sleep together, but no "hanky panky", yet.

The following day after their run and breakfast the two went to Hogwarts to continue the renovations and upgrades. Hermione had already decided on the books she would use in Transfiguration classes and gave McGonagall a list of them. Harry had yet to find books for Defense but continued to look at several that seemed promising. Neville had also found his books and turned in his list. At the end of the day Hermione wanted to stop by Diagon Alley to see if she could find a little something for Lizzy, it was so great to have a new niece, or little sister. After Diagon Alley the two went by to see Dan and Emma Granger to tell them about Lizzy, the two ended up staying for supper with Hermione's parents.

It was four days later when a package arrived addressed to Lizzy and inside was a selection of primer books for young witches that listed several useful spells that didn't require a wand. Also inside the package was a note telling Lizzy to ask Alana to get her a special computer that would work around magic and several programs that were for young witches and wizards only. When Alana came by and saw the request she just laughed and said that was Hermione always wanting everyone to have the best education and resources to be found. The laptop arrived two days later and Alana showed Lizzy how to use it and the programs.

It was a week and a half after Harry and Hermione had left when the first problem arose. The male member of the response team had been transferred to another department and wasn't happy, he showed up to seek revenge and ran into a problem named Ralph, the elf assigned to watch out for Lizzy. It be came apparent that the man attempted to curse Lizzy from a hidden location but Ralph intercepted the curse and turned it back on him. When the man staggered out of hiding and tried again Lizzy saw him throw a spell at her mother and the man interrupted another experiment in that shack. The tall thin man in black robes wasn't pleased, it had taken all this time to correct the damage that had been done the last time and restart the experimental potion.

It was a different response team that arrived at the shack and recognized the ex-MBI agent. By the time the resident of the shack had finished yelling about unannounced arrivals and wasted work the team had little choice but to take the newest arrival in custody for breaking and entering, and destruction of private property; his wand was snapped by the department head. When word of this latest episode got back to Shelia she knew just where to go for more information, she went to see Lizzy and got the full story – except for the part about Ralph. Shelia made sure that Alana was told of the incident, who told the regional director, Rick Green; things went downhill for the wizard from there.

The wizard was brought in front of Rick who told the man exactly who he had tried to attack, a member of Harry Potter's family. "The last person who attacked that family met a grisly end at the hand of Mr. Potter. Your ex-supervisor and I were there and saw what happened. I was also one of the ones who trained Ms. Granger and believe me you do not want that witch mad, or even upset with you; she is very powerful and vindictive when riled" Rick explained. The wizard didn't seem impressed, not even when Rick explained that Ms. Granger held masters certifications in both Charms and Transfiguration and that in addition to those masters Harry Potter was a master in Defense. In the interest of international relations, and the wizard's safety, he was transferred to a completely different area and banned from the area around Lizzy or Peaks for a period of four years; and nothing was to be mentioned to Harry or Hermione for that same length of time.

It was the week before school started and Harry and Hermione hadn't forgotten their promise to Lizzy about supplies and taking her to school. The two showed up on the doorstep of the Nelson's at 9am on a Monday to take Lizzy, and her parents if they wanted to go, to get her supplies. When Mrs. Nelson saw who was at the door she grabbed both Harry and Hermione in a Molly-Weasley-like hug. Mr. Nelson gave Hermione a hug and a firm handshake to Harry. Lizzy hit the two like a whirlwind and latched on to both at the same time. After a fresh cup of coffee the whole family got ready to go shopping for Lizzy's supplies, Harry stepped outside and called Ralph and asked that he keep an eye on the house and property while they were gone (Dobby had let the cat out of the bag so to speak and had been forced to tell Harry about Ralph).

Harry side-alonged with the adult Nelsons while Hermione took Lizzy and all five arrived at the magical shopping area together. There were three sets of large eyes once they got their balance back and their stomachs settled when they saw all of the different shops. Hermione suggested she take the girls and they shop for some new clothes for Lizzy while Harry and Mr. Nelson picked up some of the other items on Lizzy's list, except books of course. The boys went to get cauldrons, scales, and potion ingredients plus a good trunk for Lizzy. When Mr. Nelson saw all this he couldn't believe it would all fit into the trunk, until Harry said one word, "Magic". The two groups met up at the lunch stand and enjoyed their lunch before going to get Lizzy's books. It was while getting Lizzy's books that Harry found the books he wanted to use for Defense at Hogwarts, so he bought the teacher's edition (after the bookstore contacted Alana and she verified that Harry was indeed an instructor) plus one set of student books.

As they were exiting the bookstore they ran into Rick and Lucy. Harry mentioned that he already knew about the wizard trying to attack Lizzy and her mother and that he probably knew more than Rick did as to why he didn't have much luck – an elf protector. When Rick heard that Lizzy had an elf watching over her he had to ask if it was one of the elves from the battle, Harry said yes and Rick laughed loudly. This was the first time Hermione had heard about the attempt and she was very angry, until she was told that Ralph had taken care of the problem along with Lizzy. When Lizzy heard about the elf she asked, "What is a house elf?"

Hermione explained, "A house elf is a magical creature, in England they are sometimes slaves but we are getting that changed. They take care of a witch's or wizard's household by doing all the things that need doing around the house. At Hogwarts they do the cooking for the staff and students plus they take care of keeping the castle clean. At Peaks they still do most of the cooking and cleaning but are paid for their labors. The elf who has been watching over you and your family is a special elf in that he has received training so he can use magic to protect you. While you can't take an elf to school with you Harry will probably ask him to watch over your parents while you are away. I am sure if you ask Harry will introduce you."

Just at that moment a house elf was walking by and Harry stopped him. "Excuse me, I know you are busy but my ward here has never met a house elf and I wondered if you would mind speaking with her for a few moments. If you are too busy I can understand, and thank you for your time any way." The elf looked at Harry for a second then said, "For the great Harry Potter I would be glad to speak with the child and since I work for Peaks, if she should ever be a student there I would be honored to watch out for her". This surprised Harry, that an American elf knew him – but if that elf worked at Peaks then it might just remember him. The elf took a few minutes to speak with both Lizzy and her parents before continuing on its way.

Once the group was back at the Nelson house Harry called Ralph and introduced him to the family. The Nelsons were a little surprised to see that Ralph wore BDUs instead of regular clothes, Harry was surprised to see a set of Sargent stripes on the elf's shoulders and the Potter crest on it's chest. Harry explained again that Lizzy couldn't take an elf to school but if the Nelsons would like, Ralph could stay with them and help out. Harry would take care of the pay and Ralph would respond to either adult. Mr. Nelson asked what the elf could do since it was so small, Ralph answered that question when he pointed at the fireplace and a nice pile of firewood appeared. Ralph looked around the room and waved his hand and the room was spotless and smelled fresh.

The Nelsons were convinced and asked where Ralph would sleep while there, Ralph volunteered that he could stay anywhere – like in a cupboard under the sink. Mrs. Nelson said that would never do, if he agreed to stay he would need to sleep in Lizzy's bed and use her room, and of course he would eat with them. Ralph's eyes got even larger than normal and he stuttered when he asked, "You would treat Ralph like a member of your family? Only the great Harry Potter and his Mione have ever treated an elf like that. Ralph would like to stay and take care of Miss Lizzy's family, if that is allowed. Ralph will make sure no other human is seeing him unless Miss Lizzy's family is saying so". Harry just nodded and received an elf hug on his legs.

Harry and Hermione agreed to stay the night and escort Lizzy to Peaks the next day so they would have time to get back to Hogwarts for the start of term. That night Hermione called Ralph and explained a few things to him. "Ralph, I know how elves do everything they can to please the people they work for, but these people aren't used to having an elf so let them say what you do. These are proud and hard working people and they might not feel right if you do everything for them. Just make sure nothing bad happens to them and you will make Harry and I very happy and proud of you. You have been around Harry and I long enough to know how we think an elf should be treated and the Nelsons might want you to wear regular clothes around them, that is allowed as you are only on loan to them so giving you clothes isn't a way to dismiss you, but a way of showing they care about you and accept you as a member of their family. You might want to make contact with Peaks and see if they will keep you aware of any problems Lizzy might have. We met an elf from Peaks today who said they would look after her there if she became a student so you would have some help there too. I know you are a good elf or else Dobby wouldn't have let you come watch over Lizzy, and you have done a very good job of that and I thank you for your help".

The next morning Hermione woke up first and found that Harry had again spooned up against her back and was resting his hand on her breast, and she liked that feeling and closeness. She woke Harry and the two of them went for their run, only to be joined by Lizzy just as they went outside. After another one of Mrs. Nelson's wonderful breakfast, the three bid farewell to the adults and went to Peaks to get Lizzy settled. Alana said she couldn't show favoritism but agreed to keep an eye on Lizzy. There was no need to sort Lizzy since she already had an Air Elemental she could call, kind of like Harry and Hermione had done when they started at Peaks. Soon it was time to say farewell to Lizzy and return to Hogwarts. Harry, as well as Hermione, weren't too happy about that as they had grown attached to the little girl.

* * *

**A/N: Well Hogwarts is about to start its term and we will see what surprises are in store for the students there and how they handle some of them. Will Draco Malfoy return this term? Will there be more trouble for Harry? I guess you will have to wait and see what my imagination comes up with – just like me.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	5. Chapter 5

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 5**

Upon getting back to Potter Manor Harry and Hermione grabbed their trunks, old habits die hard, and Harry locked up the house for the time being until Christmas. The two floated their trunks out the gate and apparated to Hogsmead and started their walk up to the castle. "Harry, why didn't we just go straight to the Chamber and then up to our quarters?" Hermione asked. Harry's response was "Tradition I guess. None of the others can do it that way." Once inside the castle the elves took their trunks to their quarters and the two new Professors went to see the Headmistress.

All of the students had arrived and the first years had been sorted when McGonagall stood and called for quiet. "Welcome back to Hogwarts those who returned and welcome to those who are here for the first time. It is a new term and there are many surprises for all of us. Some of the courses have been re-examined and as such they have been changed. Divination will end after this term, muggle studies will have a new look and a new instructor and is now required for all first and second year students who are magically raised. Wizarding Culture is a new course and is required by first and second years who are muggle-raised. We will welcome several new instructors this term and some will be staying on for a long time while others will move on at the end of term. It should come as no surprise that the Heirs of the Founders have returned and as such there have been many changes. The board of governors has been replaced with a new board of advisers, the ministry has been removed from any interference with the school, and the wards around the castle have been redone and are stronger.

"Now I am sure many of you have noticed the empty seats at the head table; I would like at this time to introduce the new instructors. A new co-professor in Herbology who will handle 4-6th years is our own Neville Longbottom who holds a Mastery in Herbology. The new co-professor in Charms and Transfiguration is Hermione Granger who holds her Mastery in both subjects and will be instructing 4th-6th year students. The new Muggle Studies instructor is Mrs. Dursley and the new Wizarding Culture instructor is Prof. Lupin. Assisting Prof. Lupin will be Prof. Bill Weasley. Assisting in Care of magical creatures is Mr. Charlie Weasley who holds a newly awarded Mastery of Creatures with emphasis on dragons. Now the one you have all been waiting for Defense, the new Defense professor holds his Mastery in Charms, Defense, and Transfiguration which is in keeping with the requirement that all courses be taught by a Mastery instructor, Prof. Harry Potter. And your new Potions instructors are our own Fred and George Weasley, both of these young men scored an Outstanding Plus on their NEWTs so they are well qualified to instruct Potions.

"Breaking with tradition, the new head of house for Slytherin is Charlie Weasley and his brother Bill Weasley will be taking over as head of house for Gryffindor so I may have more time to work as Headmistress. Over the summer holidays Hogwarts has undergone many changes and classrooms have been relocated. There are maps and copies of the student handbooks in your common-room, you are encouraged to pick one of these up and study it so you don't get lost and to make sure you are on time for class. The handbooks also contain the guidelines for awarding and taking of points. Now I think it is time to get on with the feast". With that McGonagall sat down and food appeared on the tables.

There was much talk heard from the tables and most of it was from Slytherin and they were quietly complaining about having a Gryffindor as head of house. One question that was voiced the least was "Where is Malfoy?" the most common answer was "Who cares". When the noise from the table got too loud Charlie made it known that he didn't want them calling attention to the table. The use of a few zipper mouth spells made his point very well. It was after the desserts were over with that McGonagall stood again.

"As usual a very fine meal; I hope you enjoyed it as it will be the last of that type until the end of term feast. Starting tomorrow after breakfast the house tables will disappear and be replaced with 4 and 6 person tables and the meals will be served cafeteria or buffet style. Breakfast will be cafeteria style and the house tables will be there so as to make it easier for heads of house to pass out your schedules. Some of you will have noticed that there were no book-lists sent out, that is due to some professors not getting their choices in in time and the books haven't gotten here yet. But do not fear the school now has a school store where you can purchase your books and supplies, sometimes at prices below what you pay in Diagon Alley. The school store will also carry a few personal items and health care needs. All first years and second years who have not had their magical exams are to schedule those exams this week with the hospital wing. Students should also note that any instructor can send a student to the hospital wing at anytime to determine if the student is suffering from anything that needs treatment.

"Another of the surprises this year are the several seminars that have been scheduled, most are not required at this time but instructors may decide to require one for class credit. The sole exception to that is a seminar being given by Charlie Weasley and that one is required of all 6th and 7th year students as this will be a once in a lifetime experience. I don't know what all is scheduled as some arrangements are still pending. Students will notice that there are several new electives and that even first year students may select a few of them. Quidditch try outs will be in three weeks and any student 2nd year and up may try out for their house team. Most of you will be glad to hear that thanks to the efforts of Professors Longbottom and Potter we have new brooms here at Hogwarts and these will be replaced as they wear out by the manufacturers.

"I am sure there are a few questions out there but I ask that you direct your questions to your Head of House and he or she will answer them or seek the answers for you. Slytherins this is the last year that your dorm will be in the dungeons, they will be moved to one of the vacant towers next year once the towers have been checked out and declared safe again. The Forbidden Forest is just that, FORBIDDEN. The centaurs who live there will capture and report any who enter the forest without consent. Now if the prefects will lead the first years to their dorms and the returning students can make their way to the dorms I will bid you all a good night." McGonagall finished.

The two oldest Weasleys, plus Prof. Flitwick and Sprout left to oversee their charges and houses. In the Slytherin dorm Charlie Weasley eased into the common room unnoticed and watched as several of the first years were being intimidated by the upper years. "Just what I would expect from a Slytherin, you try to intimidate your own dorm mates. Well those days are over, you will all conduct yourself as ladies and gentlemen at all times. You will treat others as you want yourself treated. I have been informed that the Heir of Slytherin is a pretty sneaky snake and has it in for all the wrongful actions that have spoiled the reputation of this house. There is nothing you can hide from the heir or from Hogwarts herself. You are all expected to keep you rooms clean, I will be inspecting them without notice. And just so you know, the house elves will not be cleaning up after you. If you make a mess you clean it up, if you don't then the elves have been instructed to report who is the messiest and that person will lose 50 points on a monthly basis per house.

"I overheard several of you at the feast asking about Draco Malfoy, he will be allowed to return when he can find someone willing to sell him a wand that works and is approved by the school. If you would like to join him in his exile then just act as he did and attack a hero of Hogwarts in public. There are two young ladies here that have been excused from having to live in this dorm since they seem unwelcome by most of you. Those two ladies are to occupy the old quarters of the head of house and new quarter have been provide for myself. This is a new year and there are new rules, if you have a problem you come to me with that problem. Harmless pranks on others will be overlooked most of the time, pranks against me will be handled by my twin brothers – do any of you want those two looking for you? Now if you have any questions you are welcome to knock on my door, once you find it, and ask them. There will be a prefect meeting tomorrow night at 7pm and once a month thereafter to discuss this house and any problems" with that Charlie walked out of the room.

Upstairs Bill Weasley was doing much the same thing with the Gryffindors, he was introducing himself and setting out the rules. Professors Flitwick and Sprout both set their dorms straight and Flitwick made it a point to say the actions of a few in the past of hiding student's belongings would now cost the house all of their points if it happened to another student (it would seem he was still a little upset about Luna).

In the Gryffindor Quarters Harry and Hermione were just settling in when an elf appeared and asked if they would like some tea before bed and to congratulate the two on behalf of all the elves on their upcoming wedding. Hermione said that a cup of camomile would be nice before bed and she soon had her cup of steaming tea. In the Hufflepuff Quarters Neville and Susan were enjoying their own tea and quiet time before Neville had to leave to return to his quarters, it wouldn't be proper for an instructor to be seen with one of his students. Luna was also enjoying a cup of tea in the Ravenclaw Quarters, even though she was listed as a 7th year she only had to attend certain classes namely Arithmancy, Charms, Defense, Herbology, and Runes. Her free time was spent doing self study on spell creation with Hermione and studies with Poppy on medical magic. Charlie Weasley was the sole occupant of the Slytherin Quarters, but access had been removed to the other quarters and the ward control room, he still had access to the secret spy hole looking over the common room.

The next morning Harry and Hermione awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and an elf laying out their running suits and shoes. The two were soon up and outside to do their morning run then back inside to cleanup and get downstairs to breakfast. All of the new instructors watched as the students came in for breakfast, some of them remembered the procedure but several were surprised when nothing just appeared in front of them. A few tried to steal from others only to caught by prefects or heads of house. Harry was doing all he could to keep from laughing out loud at some of the antics. It wasn't long before all the heads of house were passing out the schedules, the first class didn't start until 9am so that gave the students plenty of time to get to classrooms on time.

Hermione's first class was sixth year Charms and she surprised them with an exam to test what they knew as compared to what they were supposed to know. The next thing was she called on random students and had them demonstrate different Charms. By the end of class Hermione told them she was glad to see some of them had actually studied over the summer, or at least remembered basic Charms. These students soon found out that every class started with an exam of some type.

Harry's first class happened to be 7th year Defense, and they got a surprise when they walked into class since Harry and Bill Weasley were waiting and started to attack as soon as the students entered. The spells used were simple and harmless ones but they did get the attention of the students. After about 10 minutes Harry and Bill quit attacking and let the students relax some. "Welcome to 7th year Defense, what you just experienced is what you are being prepared to counter, the unprovoked and surprise attack on your person or property. During the course of the year you will be attacked when you least expect it, either as a group or individually; so from this day onward be prepared to defend yourself against either myself, Prof. Weasley, or maybe another of your classmates. The first thing we will cover today is your ability to shield yourself. Now I want you to count off from one to however many it takes. The odd go to that side of the room and the even go to the other side of the room. When I give the go ahead evens will shield and odds will send a simple tickling hex, then we will switch it up somewhat and do it again. Any questions?" was Harry's welcoming speech. By the end of the class, which was two hours, the students were covered with spots of color and neither instructor had a single spot on himself.

In sixth year Transfiguration Hermione only had a total of 10 students and to say that McGonagall was upset that more couldn't pull an Acceptable on their OWLs would be an understatement. The test they faced was to change each other into specific animals as Hermione watched. Luna and Susan were the only ones to do so without problems, Ron Weasley did the transformation well except he turned his subject into the wrong animal, "There is a difference between a squirrel and a hedgehog Mr. Weasley".

At the end of the day all the students were talking about the tests they had to do, all except the first years who were talking about all the amazing things they had seen. It was in the middle of the meal when a blob of color flew toward Harry only to be intercepted by Harry's shield. Harry stood up and looked out over the students for a few seconds then laughed and said "Better luck next time." then sat back down. McGonagall looked concerned until Harry told her that it was a simple demonstration for his seventh years Defense, Harry knew exactly who had sent the blob of color and where it came from. When a second blob of color was stopped in front of Hermione's face by a shield the whole room got very quiet and still, Hermione stood and like Harry looked out over the students before speaking, "Whoever did that will pay dearly when I catch them." then she smiled and every 7th year Defense student except two were caught by the color blobs that hit them in their foreheads.

Harry stood and motioned for quiet then said, "Tomorrow we add sixth years to the fun. So be prepared." with that he sat down and smiled at McGonagall who just shook her head. The rest of the meal went well, right up to the time that every student turned the colors of their houses. McGonagall looked at the twins and they both shook their heads indicating they had nothing to do with the prank. The effect only last a few minutes and then everyone changed back, except for three first years from different houses. Those three were laughing and enjoying themselves and Hermione recognized then from the summer session. Surely three first year students weren't responsible for such a prank on the whole school, if so the twins had some serious competition as pranksters.

By the end of September there wasn't a single 6th or 7th year Defense student who couldn't put up a shield at a moments notice, some of them were rather weak but strong enough to keep the paint off them when they were targeted. Harry had told them that in order to pass they had to be able to shield against a strong stunner by a second year student. What Harry didn't tell them was who that student was, Sam from Ravenclaw and she had been practicing to strengthen herself physically and magically. The evening pranks against the students continued at least once a week and the same three students were always the last to recover and they always laughed about it.

The first Defense class in October was when Harry brought in a second year student and had her cast a stunner at each of the students so they could see if their shields were strong enough, most of them weren't. Harry asked them "If you can't defend against a 2nd year student, how are you going to defend yourself against someone stronger? I do not expect any of you to be able to defend against all attackers but I thought defending against a 2nd year should be easy. That 2nd year is not the one who will test you at the end of the year, oh no that student is much stronger than this student who you faced today. And think about it by the end of the year they will be even stronger yet. I have said it many times, 'A strong body means a strong core, and a strong core means stronger magic, and stronger magic means better defense'. Now to put it in very simple terms, you lots are soft and lazy – you need to get out and work on making your bodies stronger. I met a girl about 9 years old this summer and she would wipe the floor with most of you. She runs four to six miles a day and her magic is strong enough that even accidental magic sends people several miles away when she is threatened. If any of you are interested I run each morning and you are welcome to join me and Prof. Granger on our run like several others do. Don't worry if you don't have the right clothes we can fix that and they are available in the school store."

Hermione was surprised when several sixth and seventh years showed up to run with them the next morning, she had to transfigure several sets of warm-ups but in the end they had over 30 people running with them. Many of those students made it a point to come back each day and run with Prof. Potter and his friends.

McGonagall was a little worried, she had heard that first and second year Defense students were being instructed in wand-less magic and when she had asked Harry he had admitted it, and then asked if she could do the same in Transfiguration and maybe Flitwick in Charms. What Harry didn't tell her was that the students who were mastering wand-less magic were the ones doing the evening pranks on everyone at his suggestion.

It was time for the first special seminar and it was announced at supper one night. The first seminar was to be the one by Charlie Weasley so it was mandatory for all sixth and seventh years in addition to all Care of Magical Creatures students. Harry announced in his classes that each student was to write a paper on what they saw and how to defend against the creature shown as he had been assured that Charlie would tell the best way to defend against the creature. The day of the seminar which was to be held outside in the Quidditch stadium Charlie Weasley walked out and told the students that he needed them to be real quiet as the first animal was a baby and easily frightened. Charlie walked behind a curtain and when he walked back out there was a "small" dragon following him around. Small as in only coming up to Charlie's waist. Charlie explained that this was a young Swedish Short Snout, and explained all about that species of dragon.

The next creature Charlie showed them was a fully grown Norwegian Ridgeback, once again Charlie explained all about the species and how best to defend against them – "STAY AWAY!"

Charlie finally told the students that if they were quiet, calm, and orderly they would be allowed to approach the dragons and see them up close, but only in groups of two or three at once. Anyone upsetting a dragon was risking their own life, and maybe that of their friends. Hagrid was the very first one to approach the adult dragon and was surprised when it just rubbed its head against his chest, it was the dragon Hagrid had hatched come back to visit.

Several students tried to crowd around the baby but it ran back behind the curtain and when it reappeared it was followed by its mother, it was all Charlie could do to keep her from hurting the students, until Harry walked up and spoke to her quietly and she calmed down as long as Harry or Charlie were standing there. Hagrid didn't have any problems with the students upsetting his dragon, they were too afraid of the large creature. After everyone had a chance to look at the dragons up close Charlie told them they had been given a very rare treat as most people never saw a real dragon, much less been able to touch one safely. Charlie Weasley was the most poplar professor on campus now, and one of the most respected – even by his Slytherins.

McGonagall was amazed that Charlie Weasley had actually brought live dragons to the castle and that the dragons had not attacked anyone but remained quiet and even let a few of the students pet them. What next would Charlie and Hagrid come up with? That question was answered soon when a notice went up in all the common rooms that there were two openings for trainees to work with dragons starting that summer. The requirements were an E on their NEWTs in CMC, an overall average of Acceptable on NEWTs, and a willingness to spend the summer away from home and in the company of dragons of all sizes, species, and temperaments. The pay was listed as G100 and board, the duties were "anything that needed doing for the dragons, including trimming their talons". It was later noted that there were very few applications.

So far there had been very few detentions handed out, that changed when Flitwick caught some of his "Claws" taunting a first year. All the students involved were given detention with Prof. Sprout and Longbottom, that detention to be served on two consecutive Saturdays mixing dragon dung. It appeared that since the stars of Charlie's seminar had left fresh dung it needed to be processed. The Weasley twins had only one person assigned to them for detention so they were having their first years clean cauldrons in class. McGonagall was pleasantly surprised to see that the number of detentions were lower than they had been in many years.

The headmistress wondered why she had not heard anything bad from Muggle Studies classes so she decided to sit in on one of them herself. It didn't take long to see why the students were behaving, Mrs. Dursley made ample use of the zipper spell and the students were being treated to several films and muggle movies. She even had them doing simple things the muggle way, like making beds and cleaning dishes by hand. The students were having a ball in class and everyone of them were asking questions that were relative and on subject. This class was also the class that provided the most interaction with computers and how to use them, those lessons were being taught by her son Dudley. It was soon noted that many of the first and second years were learning to play muggle computer games and comparing the "spells" with actual spells.

When McGonagall went into the Wizarding Culture class she was surprised to see the students practicing formal dining, dancing, and learning the laws that differed between the two cultures and the reason behind those laws. In this class students were encouraged to do many things the magical way as opposed to the muggle way, and the students were always asking why magical folks were so lazy.

McGonagall decided it would be prudent to monitor all the different classes so she could see how the new teachings and techniques were being used and dealt with by the students and the staff. All of Hermione's Charms students were being encouraged to practice wand-less magic and again there was much time spent learning about computers and their use as a study aid. All assignments were to be done on the computers located in class or the library. In Transfiguration classes Hermione was teaching things that McGonagall had only taught to higher level classes, fifth years were already learning about Animagus transformations – in theory only.

Runes classes were making use of a newer overhead projector that allowed the professor to draw the runes and everyone being able to see them clearly. Once again the use of the computer was stressed as the system contained most of the runes and allowed the students to practice without an instructor looking over their shoulders. In Arithmancy the students were learning how to dissect spells and to see how they worked and why. Again the computers were being stressed, and the more advanced students were asking for more computer time and availability until they received their laptops after Christmas.

Herbology was one of the few courses that had not changed that much, though Neville's sixth year students were responsible for gathering potion components and preparing them for use in the potions classes. The first three years were still being introduced to, and shown how to work with, different types of plants. It was the 3rd years who had to learn how to mix the fertilizer for use in the greenhouses and what mixtures were needed by different species of plants.

The headmistress was reluctant to sit in on the Potions classes at first, but she finally gathered up her courage and did so. The first years were spending more time learning how to cut, dice, mash, squeeze, or manipulate ingredients than actually making the potions – making would come second semester. And the twins were taking the time to explain why potions were mixed a certain way and why they needed special stirring techniques. The students were not just using cauldrons they were using several different types of chemistry apparatus and setups. This usage was producing potions that were much superior to those made the traditional ways. The Headmistress had to admit that she learned something in those classes.

Having saved Defense for last, McGonagall was very quiet in her entry into Harry's classroom, she sat in the back of the class and just listened. Harry wasn't sitting or standing behind a desk, he was sitting on a stool in front of the desk in a very relaxed manner and instead of lecturing the students he was talking to them. Everyone of the students were paying attention and writing notes, even the Slytherins. When Harry finished the lecture part of class he gave the class a 10 minute break before he started the practical part of the class. Today Prof. McGonagall was sitting in on the class that covered the integration of Charms and Transfiguration into defensive techniques, and this was a first year class. As she watched, the students were asked to combine the levitation charm with the transfiguration of a button into a beetle. When Harry demonstrated the technique he ended up with a beetle that was flying across the room only to change into a button at the last second and hit a target. "The idea of this exercise is to develop your aim and to get you used to thinking outside the box so to speak. It is not how fast you do the spell-work right now but how well you do the spells, speed will come with practice. Now the targets have been charmed to sound differently depending on how hard your button hits. So, the first five step up to the line, chose your button, change your button, levitate it and send it down range, change your button back and hit the target."

The first five students stepped up the headmistress saw that these students were some of the best in the Transfiguration class, the first five students changed their button and sent them down to the target, every one of the beetles changed at the last second and hit, some made a loud pop while some made a bang. The exercise had taken 10 seconds! McGonagall watched as each group did the same exercise. Then Harry asked her to show the students how to do it quicker, her attempt took 9 seconds. Harry did it again and inside of 3 seconds the button had hit the target and produced a loud bang and the meter above the target showed a score of 100. "Now that shows what practice can do, the Headmistress is very learned in Transfiguration and her speed in doing that part of the exercise was the fastest. But she hasn't practiced the whole thing so her overall speed was a little slower. Your goal is to get your time down to 10 seconds or less and to score a 60 or higher by next week. Now let us try it again but change your groups around this time." Harry explained.

When McGonagall was finished observing at least one class in each subject taught in all seven years, she knew much more about how the teachers and students interacted and how the classes were being handled – she was even pleasantly surprised how smooth everything was going. When it was announced that it was almost time for the first Hogsmead visit the announcement was met with cheers and groans, cheers from the 3rd years and up and groans from the 1st and 2nd years. Harry then stood and added his own announcement, "Since 1st and 2nd years aren't allowed to go to Hogsmead, Professors Longbottom, Granger, and I have made arrangements for several shops to setup booths on the grounds for those who can't get to Hogsmead. This is an experimental thing so if it fails it won't be tried again any time soon. The shops selected are shops that won't be in competition with the school store and will sell things that we don't usually have available. Butterbeer will be limited to two bottles per student on school grounds, there will be no Firewhiskey allowed on school grounds at all. If any student is caught with, or bringing back, any contraband then all will suffer. And I should warn you that we have several experts on smuggling contraband on staff, so you will be caught." That last sentence caused a few of the professors to snicker and look at the Weasley twins, who had the good graces to blush somewhat.

The Hogsmead weekend came and the first day two Slytherin girls were caught by Charlie trying to smuggle in "love potions", but since they were caught off school grounds they were the only ones punished, but their situation was made public that night at supper as a warning to the rest. As their punishment, the girls were assigned to clean up after the Hippogriffs used in CMC. Charlie threatened to have them expose who they wanted the potions for, but decided not to force the issue – this time. The staff also overlooked the penalties imposed by the other students, both Slytherin and other wise. Hagrid didn't overlook the students who fed a laxative to the Hippogriffs, they had to help clean up also.

The second day of Hogsmead went very well, and the shops that setup booths made a good profit. The first and second years were also treated to a demonstration of flying by Harry, Hermione, Daphne, and Tori. Tori becoming very poplar with some of the boys after she showed them how well she handled a broom. That night the pranksters hit again at supper, and even McGonagall had to laugh when all of the boys were wearing dresses and the girls were wearing men's suits.

The next event was another seminar, this one hosted by Harry the topic being Magical Aids it would run for the whole weekend. The first day was an overview of Magical Aids such as jewels, rings, belts, and staffs. The second day was devoted to further demonstrations of each of the items, everything except wands and staffs were presented in the morning. The afternoon session dealt with the wands and staffs and how they differed, both in construction and usage. For the first time many students were shown how a staff was more powerful than a wand. Susan Bones was chosen to do that demonstration. She used her wand to shoot a Reducto at a target, then use her staff to repeat the spell. The difference was almost tenfold, when Hermione did the same demonstration the students were shocked to see the target explode when hit with a staff blast. To close out the seminar Harry explained, "In England there is only one wand maker, Mr. Ollivander. His family has been creating wands since 382 B.C. As he has no children when he retires there will be nobody to craft wands in Great Britain unless one of the students from Hogwarts is willing to learn to make wands. While capable of creating a staff Mr. Ollivander has not done so in many years, at present there are only two people in the world known for making staffs; one lives in America and made my staff, and the other lives in Japan and only creates staffs for very special people. It isn't that hard to craft a wand since most wands only have a single core; but a staff can have up to six different core components. But there are specialty wands that use up to three cores and those are difficult to make as you have to place the cores inside in a specific order. I took a seminar like this one a few years ago and was so impressed with it I took it upon myself to learn more about wand and staff crafting. My own wand is composed of three cores and took the craftsmen and myself almost a week to create. Some of you were in the summer session and watched as I helped you chose your wand materials, both the wood and the core, it was fun and I hope you learned something from it. If any of you here today think you might be interested in learning this dieing craft please see me at your convenience to discuss this further." There was a very loud round of applause for Harry and his information.

Harry was sought out by several students over the next few days and many asked if he might do another seminar on just wands and staffs and maybe include some practice in making wands. There were three first years, the ones who required the special wands, who asked if he would be willing to show them more about making wands and they all volunteered to meet with him on Saturdays if needed to learn more. Harry was impressed and said he would look into setting something up for them.

The following Saturday Harry met with the three first year students and escorted them to the room he had setup for wand-crafting. The three were surprised at the amounts of wood Harry had, not to mention the many different types. Harry explained that each piece of wood was tagged with its particulars such as type, age, where it was found, and location of the specific tree it came from. Harry explained that while any Oak would work for some people he had found that certain trees worked better for some than others within the same species. The same was true for the different core materials, of which he had almost 300 specimens each tagged with the same information. One of the three students was a boy and he said he enjoyed working with wood, carving things and he even had a few samples of his work in his dorm. Harry asked him to show him the samples sometime. Harry then explained that there were several spells that had to be used to gather, prepare, or deal with the wood and the cores. There were also spells used to determine what a wand was made of and how it was constructed, and if you were really good you could determine who made the wand if it was made by a well known craftsman.

"It is a matter of courtesy to never pick up someone's wand without permission, but another reason is that some wands are personalized and to pick it up is to risk harm to yourself. My wand is that way, and a few that I have made are that way also. This is done so a wand can't be stolen or used against you. There are ways around that protection if you know that it exists, but even then it is dangerous. Once you learn how to make wands you can learn to make staffs, they are more complicated but as I said before they are more powerful and not every witch or wizard can use a staff. I have run across very few people who can handle a staff, you saw two of them – Susan and Hermione, they both have the power and ability to use one. If I remember correctly each of you required a special wand that didn't use the most common components and I imagine you had to pay a little more for your wands. Now who wants to see if they can make a wand, a practice wand that is?" Harry asked.

They all wanted to try so Harry chose the most common wood blanks he had and gave each of them a piece. He then explained that the first thing after choosing the components was to shape the wood itself. There were two basic ways to do that, one was to use a knife to carve out the wand and the second was to use a wood lathe to shape the wand. Harry took a piece of Pine and placed it on the lathe and showed them how to shape it that way. The boy commented that it might take longer but he preferred to carve the wood, so Harry handed him a knife. The girls both decided to use the lathe and went to work on their own pieces of wood, after Harry got them the correct safety equipment. "Professor Potter, if I wanted to carve some special designs would I do that before or after inserting the core?" the boy asked.

Harry told all three "While we are working in here please just call me Harry. As to your question Tom, you would do all the carving before inserting the core. Once the core is inserted you don't want to do much to the wood at all, maybe a little sanding to smooth out any rough spots. Another thing is that once you have the wand put together you need to seal it somehow. Most wand-craftsman have their own special sealant that they use, I do and it is up to you to come up with your sealant that doesn't interfere with the function of the wand".

"Professor, I mean Harry, do you have any other knives for finer work than this one? It is fine for the overall shaping but is too big for detail work.", Tom asked. Harry handed him a much smaller knife and watched as Tom smoothed out his blank into a wand shaped piece of wood. Tom thought for a few minutes then started to carve again, this time he carve a dragon into the handle of the wand.

While Tom carved, the girls finished their blanks. One of them was kind of lopsided and very much out of balance. The other was still semi-squared on the handle end, again out of balance. Harry took the time to show the girls what was wrong with each blank and to correct the squareness of the one. Tom was still carving on his dragon and it looked as if it was going to be very detailed. Harry asked if Tom planned to take Runes when he was able and was told that the he really hadn't decided yet. Harry explained that Runes were important as they added power to the wand if done correctly and showed his own wand as an example. This caused Tom to ask if it made a difference if the runes were carved into the wood or the wood was carved away leaving the runes outstanding. Harry didn't have an answer for that one he told Tom he would have to ask either Grimstead or Ollivander about that.

Harry handed each girl a tag and told them to label their blanks and they would call it a day so they could have some time to enjoy their day off. Tom asked if he could take his blank with him and finish it, Harry said he could and asked if Tom needed to keep the knife he was using. Tom thought it would be easier if he could borrow the knife as the only one he had was larger and not right for the really fine detail he wanted. That night Harry showed Hermione a pensive memory of the work Tom had done on the blank, she was impressed with the work.

The following Saturday when the four got back together for more wand work the three were surprised when Hermione joined them. All of them were impressed with the work Tom had done on his blank in just a week's time. The dragon on the handle now looked just like the baby dragon Charlie Weasley had brought to show the students. Harry marveled at the detail, and hard work, Tom had done, and told him how much he admired it.

"Now that we have the blank shaped into a wand we need to insert the core. Does anyone have an idea as how that might be done?" Harry asked but none of the kids said a thing.

"You would need to split the blank so you have access to the interior. There are two ways to do that, some just simply split it with a knife or such; but some use a spell to cause the wood to split evenly. I use a modified spell that causes the wood to 'open' up kind of like a frankfurter bun then I can insert the core and close it back up and there is no seam at all" Harry explained. He then showed the three kids on a blank he had already shaped. All three kids were amazed to see the wood just open up and then close back.

"Now since we are just making a practice wand we will use your own hair as the core for your wand. Each of you find a place to work on your wand and decide how you want to split your blank and Hermione and I will help you do the splitting." Harry instructed the three.

Tom said he would like to try the spell Harry used, but would rather not mess up the carving he had done on the handle. Would it be possible to try the spell on another piece of wood first? Harry handed him the piece he had used to show the spell and then explained the spell to Tom. Tom tried the spell and was very surprised to see the wood split almost like Harry had done it. But the split wasn't exactly down the middle, Harry closed the piece and told Tom to try again but to concentrate more on where he wanted the wood to split. This time the wood split exactly where it should.

Meanwhile Hermione was teaching the girls how to do the other spell to split the pieces of wood unfortunately they weren't having much luck since their pieces weren't correctly balanced. Harry looked at the blanks and told them that since the blank wasn't balanced correctly it wouldn't split correctly, but that the blanks had split as well as could be expected and that the girls had done well.

Harry turned back to Tom and watched as Tom "opened" his carved blank. The blank opened exactly where it needed to and was smooth all around. Harry had each student pull out a single hair, one of the girls had really long hair so she had more than was needed. Tom had fairly short hair but the strand he removed was okay for length since this was just a practice wand. Harry used one of his own hairs to show them how to remove the root and then place the hair in the middle of the split blank. "With hair cores you want ½ to ¾ of an inch space on each end, the hair must be as close to the center as possible" Harry explained as he laid his hair into the blank.

Harry watched as each girl trimmed her piece of hair and placed it inside the blanks. Then Harry watched as Tom did the same thing with his hair, Tom's hair was almost perfectly centered on the first try. _"This boy shows a lot of promise"_ Harry thought. Harry had Tom "close" his wand since it wouldn't require any type of glue to join it together. Next Harry handed the girls his glue pot and told them to use a very thin layer of glue the length of the wand and only on one side. Next he showed them how to position the other half of the wand before setting it down on the glue and using rubber bands to hold the halves together. "Now the glue needs to set for 8 to 12 hours before you can finish your wand. That is one of the drawbacks to that technique. Where as Tom's wand is ready to test if it was a real one" Harry explained.

Tom picked his "wand" up and gave it a wave, surprisingly sparks shot out the tip. Weak sparks but sparks none the less. That was a working wand! Harry asked if he could see Tom's wand, after all since it contained Tom's own hair it could be personalized already. Harry examined the wand closely and again marveled at the craftsmanship and detail that had gone into it's creation. The wand was well balanced and only had one or two rough spots on it. "Ladies as much as it surprises me, Tom has created a working wand his first time trying. He only needs to do a couple more things to finish it. But don't be discouraged since he got lucky on the first try. You all three show remarkable skill and aptitude for wand-crafting. You two girls just need more practice shaping your wood and learning how to split it. We will try and finish your wands next week." Harry said as he handed the wand back to Tom.

"Tom, there are two things left to finish your wand. First you need to sand it so it is smooth, I felt a couple of rough spots on it. The second thing is to apply the sealant and let that dry overnight then smooth out any rough spots left by the sealant. Here is some very fine sandpaper so go ahead and smooth it out, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do that" Harry instructed as he watched Tom run his fingers over the wand and then sand lightly to smooth the rough areas. "Girls if you want to meet Hermione and I here tomorrow we can finish your wands since I would like to see Tom's finished as soon as possible" Harry continued. Both girls said they would be back the next day.

Harry asked again to see the wand and could find no rough spots left. Handing the wand back, "Now since you haven't had a chance to discover your own sealant I will let you use some of mine. Use only enough to apply an even coat over the whole wand. I will show you how to get to the whole thing so there are no spaces", Harry said.

Harry did show Tom how to coat the whole wand and then he placed the wand in the warm air drying column so it would be dry by the next day. As they walked out of the room Tom asked if Harry would eventually show him how to do that trick to dry the wand. Harry said he would think about that as it required some very special magic to accomplish that trick. That night once they were alone Harry asked Hermione what she thought about his three students. "Harry, that boy Tom showed some real potential for wand-crafting, and the detail he put into the handle was amazing. If he stays with it some of his wands will fetch a high price for the specially carved ones. Even though all three are first years they have shown some very impressive magical abilities in both the Charms and the Transfiguration classes that I've had them in. I heard what he asked you as we were leaving and I know that the method you use is a combination of your elemental abilities, so he would have to be at least an Air Elementalist to do that trick. I think we need to test all three of them with your rods to see if they have what it takes. I know Grimstead was amazed when he saw you do that and he still can't improve on it even with all of his experience", Hermione replied as she snuggled closer to Harry.

The next morning all three students came up to Harry and Hermione to ask what time to meet up since it was raining outside anyway. Harry and Hermione suggested they meet at the workroom about 10am. After the three left McGonagall stopped by and asked what was up with those three students and Harry explained that the threesome had shown much interest in wand-crafting and they had each made a practice wand already, except Tom's turned out to be a real working wand instead. McGonagall asked if she could join them when they tested that wand Harry said of course.

When Harry, Hermione, and McGonagall arrived at the workroom the three students were already there and waiting outside, the room was locked to keep anyone from entering without Harry being there. Once inside they checked the girls wands which were dried and ready to finish. Harry removed Tom's wand from the drying area and checked it for dryness, it too was dry and ready. Harry had Tom take a small amount of steel wool and remove any roughness from the finish while he showed the girls how to sand their wands.

Once the girls had started to smooth out their wands Harry examined Tom's wand again and could find no rough areas anywhere on it. After asking Tom's permission Harry handed the wand first to McGonagall and then to Hermione. Hermione received a small shock when she touched the wand. "Oops, sorry I forgot to specify both of you. It would seem that the wand has personalized itself to Tom and since I had only instructional contact even I can't handle it without permission" Harry said. Hermione just frowned at Harry as she rubbed her hand.

Tom was apologizing for his wand shocking Hermione but she told him it was as much her fault as Harry's and it just showed how well the wand was made. Harry asked Tom what his best Charm or transfiguration was and was told Tom had no problem with any of the ones he had been taught so far. McGonagall just nodded, as did Hermione. The Headmistress suggested that Tom try the porcupine to pincushion transformation since that was the last one he had been taught. Tom used his regular wand and did the change with little trouble, next Harry had him reverse the change but use the new wand. The reversal was a little rough but it finally worked. Tom was frowning, but Harry was smiling brightly and patting Tom on the back saying he had done great.

The girls finished their sanding and neither Hermione nor Harry could find any rough spots. Hermione told the girls to point the wands away from people and to give them a wave. Neither wand produced sparks and when they tried to do a simple spell it wouldn't work either. "Girls, that just shows that you created what we set out to create, a practice wand. It doesn't do magic so it is great for practicing your wand motions for Charms and no worries about stray spells. I kind of wish I had had a similar wand when I was learning, then I wouldn't have made so many mistakes that had to be fixed by my instructors" Harry told the girls and this seemed to lift their spirits.

"Young man, may I see your new wand again. I want to look at the handle some more, that is an amazing likeness of a dragon that bares closer examination" McGonagall asked. When she had the wand in her hand she could see all the detail work Tom had worked on the handle and complimented him again on the workmanship. When McGonagall waved the wand to feel the balance it produced sparks again, this time they were stronger. Hermione asked to examine the wand and was still amazed at the workmanship and detail, but for her it didn't produce sparks.

"Mr. Potter I think you might consider introducing this young man to your instructor as he shows much aptitude for wand-crafting. I would imagine there aren't many who show such aptitude and such fine craftsmanship at his age" McGonagall said, Tom's smile was so bright you almost needed dark glasses. Both of the girls came over and asked if they could see Tom's wand and told him how proud they were of him, one of them even gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Okay you three, there is one more thing we would like each of you to try today. You all saw how Harry set Tom's wand up to dry. Now as Harry explained yesterday to Tom it takes a special kind of magic to do that little trick. We have here four rods, we want you one at a time to pick one and give it a wave to see if you get any type of response. Before you do anything listen, you must not point these at anyone as the response sometimes is kind of strong and dangerous" Hermione explained as Harry pulled the four rods out of his robes.

Sally was first; she received a response from the rod of water as it produced a nice stream that hit the wall. Sarah had a response from the Air rod producing a nice breeze. Then it was Tom's turn and he was nervous, but Hermione just told him to aim the rod away from anyone and have at it. Tom got a response from Air, the response was a small whirlwind.

"I am what is called an Elementalist and so is Hermione. While I have very strong ties to both Fire and Air, Hermione is linked to only one, Air. We have friends who are linked to Earth and Water so when we get together we represent all four elements. The Headmistress has been aware of these special abilities for a few years since it wasn't in our best interests to keep her in the dark about them. Now what I do to dry the wands is a combination of my abilities concerning Air and Fire. All witches and wizards have a connection to one of the elements, but some have a stronger connection and can summon a full-fledged elemental, some can only exert a small amount of control over that element", Harry explained.

"But if each rod is for a particular element then how do you do both of it at the same time?" Sally asked.

"We don't, if your connection is strong enough then once you learn how you don't need the rods anymore. Hermione and I have practiced enough that we don't have to use the rods; watch" Harry said as he called Windford and Hermione called Windy. "Kids, meet Windford and Windy, our friends who happen to be Air Elementals. If you learn to call a full elemental then the two of you can communicate with each other on a kind of psychic level. While Windford can hear anything you say to him, he can only 'speak' to me – except in special circumstances. Hermione and I can communicate with each others elemental because they are brother and sister, which is very very rare, and because we have asked them to allow this.

"Remember what you were told about wand-less magic, that it has always existed but because of wands it fell out of use except in the young? Well, working with an elemental is the same way, people have forgotten how to do that. There are a few witches and wizards who try to summon an elemental through a ritual; but they have to be very powerful to control that elemental or it will turn on them and kill them. What an Elementalist does is different, in our case the elemental comes because it wants to not because it was made to. As such we are friends, the more you call your elemental the stronger it becomes and the closer you become to each other – just like a friend" Harry explained as he got a strange look on his face. _"I will be sure and tell Tom about your friend later. I don't want to over load him or make him seem too special right now"_, Harry thought to Windford.

"Mr. Potter, that was one of the best explanations I have ever heard describing wand-less magic and the use of elemental magic in today's society. You and Ms. Granger continue to surprise me, and so do these three. If there were many more students like you I would soon be out of the job I really enjoy, most of the time. But I have things I need to do so I will leave you two with your students. But I expect you to keep me advised as to their progress" McGonagall said as she left the room.

* * *

**A/N: Well, it appears we have another wand-maker and possibly another Elementalist. We shall see what develops.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	6. Chapter 6

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 6**

PEAKS School

Lizzy was sad, Harry and Hermione had just left and it would be a couple of days before the rest of the students arrived and the term started. Lizzy's pity party was interrupted by an elf that just appeared in her room. "You are the one who is part of the great Harry Potter family? I am called Connie and I am to watch out for you like Buddy promised the great Harry Potter. If you have a need for something then just call Connie and I will fix. But you not tell other students or Mistress Alana, okay?" the elf said in a rush. Lizzy was surprised until she remembered the elf from the shopping center that had talked with her and her parents.

"Connie, Harry left an elf at my parents house and I am sure he would like to know you are watching out for me. Is there any way to let him know? His name is Ralph" was all Lizzy got out before Ralph appeared. "You be calling Ralph Miss Lizzy and Ralph is here" Ralph said, then he saw the other elf standing there. "Greetings sister, I am called Ralph and I have been charged with protecting Miss Lizzy and her family while she is going to school here. But I not allowed to stay with her while in school. Make job very hard."

"Greetings brother, I is called Connie and I will watch Miss Lizzy while at school and let you know if she in trouble. You nice looking elf and you visit elfs here at Peaks any time you likes" was Connie's reply.

Lizzy felt better now that she had two elves watching out for her and two new friends too. She thanked both elves for being her friends and watching out for her since she had not ever been away from home before that she remembered. Lizzy asked how her parents were doing and Ralph told her they were fine, but missed Miss Lizzy very much.

Lizzy got to meet her Head of House the next day; he was surprised to find out she had already called an Air elemental after all this was her first time at school. He asked if he could meet Lizzy's elemental, so Lizzy called Annie and introduced the two. "You must call on your elemental frequently so she can grow here in this realm. The more you have contact with her the stronger she becomes. The headmistress has told me that you are related to Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter, those two were a breath of fresh air, if you'll excuse the pun, when they were here. If you are half as talented as those two you will not have any problems. They both set many school records during their terms here, and some of them are still to be broken or even tied", he said.

It was the night of the welcoming feast and Lizzy got to meet all the new students in her house, she also got to meet her roommate who wasn't very friendly. Alana introduced all of the staff to the new students and gave a brief rundown of the rules and regulations.

The next morning Lizzy was up at 530am and outside to do her morning run, she only made it 5 miles before it was time to go back inside and clean up for breakfast. When Lizzy went back in her roommate was upset because she had been woke up by Lizzy leaving for her run. "Is this going to be an everyday thing, your getting up before daylight and making noise? If so then we need to come to an understanding, I don't do mornings and don't like being woke up by a cow like you. Only mundanes get up and exercise not magicals, we use magic to take care of that or anything else we need." was as far as the girls got before Lizzy had her up against the wall. "Connie, could you please get a senior student or the house head for me before I have to injury this poor excuse for a human being?" was all Lizzy said.

It was only a few minutes later when one of the senior girls showed up and asked what was wrong. Lizzy didn't even let her roommate speak, "This poor excuse for a human being is close to being exterminated. She thinks the world revolves around her and that nobody should be up before lunch. I don't know about you but I have classes this morning and would like to have something to eat first. This thing had the nerve to complain because I wanted to shower before breakfast after my morning exercise. If this is how this school works then I am in the wrong place".

The senior girl asked Lizzy to let the girl down and to let her speak so an informed decision could be made. After hearing the girl's side the senior said, "My name is Cathy and I am the one responsible for this set of rooms. First off, I think it is great that Lizzy wants to exercise as a strong body makes a strong core and that makes for better and stronger magic. This was a philosophy expressed by one of the most respected students to attend Peaks, Hermione Granger, and she set records we are still looking for a way to achieve. Secondly, we don't allow fighting in the rooms. But since this wasn't a fight no rule broken. Thirdly, if you ever insult someone because they think different than you or if you put someone down because they want to make themselves a better person I will kick your ass myself. Now you Miss Primadonna can start packing as you will be out of this room by lunch, Ms. Nelson was here first and she stays. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" the girl started out of the room but turned around and asked, "Lizzy, would you mind telling Hermione I said HI the next time you see her. I really respect that woman, she taught me a lot – not as much as Harry, but a lot".

Lizzy was almost finished with breakfast when her Head of House came by to give out schedules. "Ms. Nelson, I heard about the incident this morning and I want to thank you for not hurting that girl, she has been moved to another room. Now don't take this the wrong way, but since we have extra beds would you mind having the room to yourself?" Lizzy thought about it for a second and agreed that would be fine, she wasn't used to having anyone else in her room anyway. The first thing on her schedule was orientation with the headmistress and it was scheduled until lunch. So Lizzy was off to the room indicated.

Lizzy had only been in the room for a few minutes when her ex-roommate came in and tried to start something. The next thing the girl knew she was against the wall and up by the ceiling and Lizzy was standing there with a confused look on her face. Standing behind Lizzy was a pissed off looking elf wearing camouflage shirt and pants pointing his finger at the girl on the wall. Just as the Headmistress came in two things happened, the elf disappeared and the girl fell to the floor. Alana asked what was happening and Lizzy said she didn't know, one minute she was sitting there and the next the girl had attacked her then flew to and up the wall. When Alana asked the girl for her side of the story the girl denied attacking Lizzy until another student said she had been complaining about Lizzy all morning and had made threats.

"Both of you girls see me in my office after this is over, and I want you on opposite sides of the room during orientation. This is a first for me, a new student in trouble before orientation even starts" Alana said before walking off.

After the orientation Lizzy made her way to Alana's office. Once both girls were inside and the door closed Alana started with her lecture. "Ms. Abernathy, this was the second time this morning you attacked Ms. Nelson, the first was verbally in her room before breakfast. Then you are seen to physically attack her less than three hours later. As I understand it both times you wound up against a wall. Personally, if someone had done that to me once I would stay as far away from them as I could. Now, Ms. Nelson may I see your wand please?" Alana examined Lizzy's wand and saw the last spell was over 24 hours ago and then returned it. "Sorry but I had to check and the last spell was 24 hours ago and it was Lumos. Lizzy, would you please tell Ms. Abernathy and I what happened to the last person who made you upset?" Alana asked.

"If you mean that man on the farm, one second he was there and I blinked and he was gone. They told me he was found about 100 miles away in some man's shack." Lizzy answered.

"And the two men before that?"

"They were found 100 miles away in the same shack"

"I see; it appears that if someone upsets you or makes you mad they end up far away very suddenly. I thank you for not sending Ms. Abernathy away, that would have caused so many problems and way too much paperwork for me. Ms. Abernathy you will serve one week in detention with an instructor to be decided. If there is another such infraction then you will be sent home and your wand snapped. I believe that would make the third time you were kicked out of a school, which means the only option left is public schools. Go eat lunch girls and stay as far away from each other as possible, even in class" Alana instructed.

Lizzy's first real class was History of Magic. The first thing the instructor did after calling roll was to have each student come forward and have their wand examined. When he got to Lizzy's wand, "Oh my, a Potter Special. Those are hard to come by, or so I've been told. You are one lucky young lady". The rest of the class was spent going over the goals for the class. Next up was household magic which was followed by Intro. To Magical Spells.

By the end of the day Lizzy was tired, not so much physically but mentally. Who knew there were spells to do so many things in the home, didn't those magical families do anything the old fashion way – by hand? _"Next thing you know they will say they have a spell so you don't have to pull down your pants to go to the bathroom, that sounds gross."_ Lizzy thought as she walked to the dinning area for supper. About halfway through the meal Lizzy heard an uproar coming from across the room, it was the Abernathy girl and she was yelling at one of the instructors, something about shovels and crap.

Later that night as Lizzy was looking over her schedule for the next day, math was first followed by American History then Physical Education. After lunch the first thing was something called Communication and it was a two hour class, the last class of the day would be Social Skills. It appeared that she only had magical classes on Monday and Friday. Someone knocked on her door and when she told them to come in it was Cathy.

"Hey Lizzy, just doing my rounds and checking on all my girls to see how you made it through the first day. Any problems you need to talk about, besides Ms. Abernathy?" Cathy asked.

Lizzy told her that so far it was just confusing trying to find all the classrooms, the maps helped a lot but she wasn't used to moving from class to class yet. Then Lizzy asked about the disturbance in the dining area at supper. "Oh that, that Abernathy girls was assigned detention with the Herbology instructor and her first nigh is to help spread the fertilizer around the plants in greenhouse 3. When she objected to 'shoveling shit' she was given the option of going home or doing her detention, unfortunately she elected to do the detention so we still have to put up with her. That fertilizer is made from dragon dung and it smells really bad; it has to be mixed with other things or else it would burn the plants, well now Ms. Abernathy smells the same way. Her new roommate wouldn't even let her back in the room at first until she took a shower, not that I blame her." Cathy explained.

"Say has the Head said when you are supposed to start learning how to call an elemental? Some kids have no problem with that but some don't ever get a full-fledged elemental to appear, like me. You must be connected to Air since you're in this dorm." Cathy continued.

"Oh, I am sorry for you, an elemental can be so much fun, especially when you need someone to talk to. I know my friend Annie always helped when I was young, even if everyone thought she was made-up. I'm supposed to call her every night so she can get stronger but I had forgotten. Would you like to meet her?" Lizzy asked as Annie just came into existence.

Lizzy introduced the two to each other, but had to relay what Annie said to Cathy since she couldn't hear her. Cathy was surprised to see a 9 year old call a real elemental, an elemental that looked a lot like Lizzy. The three girls spent a few minutes talking and then Cathy said she needed to go see the rest of the girls in her section but she would check on Lizzy each night and if Lizzy needed any help with homework just to ask. After Cathy left Lizzy and Annie spent almost an hour talking, Lizzy did most of the talking, before Annie had to leave as she was getting tired.

When the second day was over and now Lizzy knew what Communications was all about, Reading, Writing, and Speech lessons. Phys Ed had been a joke, Lizzy hadn't even done enough to sweat much. These magical people were so lazy, but the instructor had said the gym would be opened at 6am for anyone who wanted to use it for a morning workout when the weather was bad. The only thing was you had to have a partner to use any of the machines or weights, but that made sense in case something happened. _"Maybe I can get Cathy to go with me"_ Lizzy thought.

Social Skills was so boring, they would be learning how to eat correctly and how to sit and walk and dance. But the dancing was something out of the past and the music was really weird. Who cared what fork you used, a fork was a fork. Lizzy already knew how to sit and walk, she had been sitting since she was 1 and walking since she learned how to stand on her own. When Cathy stopped by Lizzy was told to be sure to set a password for the door so nobody else could get in the room. The senior sponsors and the Heads had an override password for emergencies so it was not necessary to share passwords.

Lizzy got into the habit of calling Annie every night about the same time and Annie was looking more like Lizzy every day, she was getting more solid too and could even hug Lizzy a little now. By the end of the first week Lizzy was sure that most of the magically raised girls would never make it in the real world outside of school, they were just too lazy. But Lizzy had found one other girls who might be willing to go running or exercise with her, she had asked Cathy but Cathy said she needed her beauty sleep – as if.

It was the middle of October and when Lizzy got up one morning it was snowing hard outside and there was already snow an inch deep on the ground, no running today unless she went to the gym. When Lizzy got to the gym she was surprised to see several older boys running around. A sign on the wall said that ten laps equaled one mile, so Lizzy would need to run at least 60 laps to get her 6 miles in for the day. Lizzy started her laps and was about halfway through them when she noticed the Phys Ed instructor watching her.

As Lizzy finished her 61st lap the instructor came over and told her to walk one more lap so her muscles wouldn't cramp up, he called it a "cool down lap". As she was leaving the gym to go shower, the instructor told her to see him in class that day for some special instructions. When Lizzy got to Phys Ed the instructor asked if she had any workout clothes that would be suitable for use on the machines, something like shorts and a tee? Lizzy said she did in her room and was told to wear them in the morning instead of her jogging suit. He spent an hour, after getting the others started, showing Lizzy how to use some of the machines and the safety procedures for each machine. From that day on Lizzy would do a real workout while the rest of the class just played.

Two weeks later the instructor asked Lizzy if she might be interested in joining the unofficial martial arts classes on Saturday mornings. "We don't do dangerous stuff but we have fun and it helps tone up the body and increase your endurance, besides it makes for a lot better reflexes that will come in handy later on when you start Defense classes. When he said this was an idea started by Harry and Hermione Lizzy was ready to join.

Lizzy had found out that she didn't need the stamps her parents had sent with her, she had used one to write her parents so far and she wrote at least once a week. Instead of using stamps she used "Elf Post", she gave her letters to Connie and from there they were given to Ralph, so her parents got them the same day; and her parents, mostly her mother, did the same thing but in reverse. Cathy had taken to visiting more and more and had been a real friend whenever Lizzy got upset or got lonely.

Thanksgiving week was when Lizzy's official Wedding invitation came. Inside was a note from Hermione asking Lizzy for her sizes so the appropriate dresses and robes could be ordered for Lizzy to wear to the wedding. Lizzy didn't have any idea how to get her sizes so she asked Cathy for help. Cathy said she should have already learned that spell in household magic and then showed Lizzy how to do the spell and made her practice until Lizzy could do it perfectly and without her wand. Lizzy sent Hermione the measurements and sizes that the spell produced, but why would you need to know how far it was from your ear to to your shoulder or from ear to ear across the top of your head?

Back at the Nelson house things were going very quietly. Ralph was getting bored since he wasn't allowed to do much around the house, but he did spend a lot of time visiting Peaks and one special elf named Connie. Connie kept Ralph aware of anything that went on that involved Lizzy. Lizzy hadn't had any more trouble since he had caught that other girl attacking her and had held the girl high up on a wall until the Headmistress came. Then the first trouble came, Mr. Nelson had gone outside to work in the barn as they called it when Ralph heard his name called. When Ralph got to the barn he found Mr. Nelson on the floor and he seemed in pain. Ralph used the little training he had in first-aide to immobilize the man and popped him to the house and got Mrs. Nelson. It turned out that nothing was broken but Mr. Nelson's knee and ankle were twisted and he wouldn't be walking much for a while.

That did it, Ralph got busy. If it looked weak it was made strong, if it looked broken it was repaired using elf magic. If Mr. Nelson needed to move from one place to another Ralph floated him, the doctor had said to stay off that leg and Ralph made sure he did. And when a fox got the chickens upset the fox disappeared and the chickens never had to worry about any other predators getting inside the hen house again. Ralph made sure he told Miss Lizzy about the accident and that her father was being well cared for by Ralph. Mr. Nelson tried to tell Ralph not to do some of the things but Ralph relied, "You is hurt right now, Ralph take care of you. When you better Ralph let you do what you needs to do. You tell Ralph what needs doing and Ralph do it until you better". That ended any argument since Mrs. Nelson agreed.

Thanksgiving was to be a long weekend, classes would let out at noon the day before and not resume until the following Monday morning. Lizzy wanted to go home for the holiday but it was a long way home and if her parents drove up to get her they would only have one day at home before they had to bring her back. When Lizzy mentioned her problem to Connie she was told, "You no worry, Connie fix". At lunch on the day before Thanksgiving the dinning area got a shock, an elf in starched BDUs appeared next to Lizzy and asked if Miss Lizzy was ready to go home and see her parents. The next thing Lizzy knew she was in her own living room and she could smell where her mom had already started cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

Ralph gave a loud blast on a whistle and said, "Ralph is needing attention of Miss Lizzy and her family. You is to enjoy company of each other, Ralph be fixing big meal for family, so you all stay out of Ralph's kitchen. Lunch tomorrow is to be served at 1pm and Ralph not take any argument." The next day Ralph walked into the living room wearing what was his version of a suit and told them that lunch was served and it was getting cold. When the family sat down food appeared on the table, there was the largest turkey Lizzy had ever seen and there were many different dishes to go along with it. The plates had both the Potter and the Black crests on them as did the silverware. "Would Miss Lizzy's family want this help you self or formal service?", Ralph asked. They decided that help your self was what they wanted, but Ralph did the carving.

When they told Ralph to sit down with them he almost cried, "Elves not eat big meal with those we serve, it not right." "Ralph, you sit yourself down right this minute; you are not a servant, you are family so you eat with us and I will not take any argument", Mrs. Nelson said firmly, Ralph cried but he sat down and ate with "his" family. When they were almost as stuffed as the turkey, Ralph told them to save room for dessert. All the food disappeared and the table was refilled with many different cakes and pies and a few puddings. Once they had had their fill of dessert Mrs. Nelson asked what they were going to do with all the left overs. Ralph got quiet and looked down at his feet, "Miss Lizzy's family not be mad but left over food sent to big house with many kids but not much food, kids get big meal". "What big house with lots of children?" Mr. Nelson asked and Ralph told them sign said "State Home for Children".

Lizzy said she wished she could see the looks on the kids faces, not to mention the staff's faces. Ralph said he could fix it so Miss Lizzy see faces but they not see Miss Lizzy. Lizzy found herself in the dinning room and the kids were all enjoying the big meal, the staff had surprised looks on their faces but were eating too. Ralph snapped his fingers and all of the desserts were on a table off to the side. "Miss Lizzy see them but they no see Ralph and Miss Lizzy", Ralph said. When the two returned home all three Nelsons told Ralph how proud they were of him and thanked him for reminding them that it was good to think about those who had less than they did.

Lizzy had enjoyed her visit home but it was time to return to Peaks. Ralph popped her back to her room and said if Miss Lizzy needed anything to call him or let Connie know. Lizzy was busy remembering everything that had happened over the weekend and especially the looks on her parents faces when they saw how big Annie had gotten. Lizzy had gotten another surprise over the long weekend, she had found out she could ride inside Annie while Annie flew around and with some help from Ralph nobody saw them. It was Monday night when Lizzy got the chance to talk with Cathy and compare their weekends.

* * *

**A/N: Well we have caught up on what is happening to Lizzy at school. Most of this was taken from her letters to Harry and Hermione, that "Elf Post" is something else. Next up Christmas and a wedding or two. Well it seems that my Beta and helper has forgotten about the weddings for now, they will be posted as soon as "we" get them written.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	7. Chapter 7

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 7**

After reading the latest letter from Lizzy, about how big Annie was getting and about the interest the PE teacher had taken in Lizzy, Hermione realized that she needed to get busy and get invitations out. But first she needed Harry to tell her who was his Best Man so she could choose her Bride's Maid of Honor, she wanted to use Susan Bones but only if Harry chose Neville. That night after Harry had read Lizzy's letter Hermione asked about the Best Man. Harry said he had asked Neville to take that position and he had agreed just that day. With that small detail out of the way it was time to get down to important things, the color scheme.

Hermione told Harry that she was going to use Periwinkle for her robes, but would wear a traditional white dress for the muggle ceremony. What was Harry wearing? Harry said he had thought to wear Gryffindor colored robes with the Potter crest and a white Tux, with a gold vest and red cumber-bun, for the muggle ceremony. Hermione was surprised that a man had such good taste in fashion. Harry smiled then admitted he had gotten the idea from Daphne for his robes and he liked the look of the Tux when he saw it in a movie one time. Harry said quickly he had asked several of the women they knew for advice on what to wear as he had no idea what would look best.

"Mione, I just had a thought. How about we have Dobby wear a dress uniform and be the ring bearer, while Daisy wears a dress and is the one who throws the flowers. If Rick and Remus don't object Dobby can carry all three ring sets, each set on a separate pillow and each pillow in the Bride and Groom's colors. What do you think?" Harry asked. Hermione hadn't even thought about that part of the ceremony, but she liked it, except each bride would have a different elf and flowers. "Twinkie would be great for Rick and Lucy, but I can't think of any elf for Remus and Tonks" Hermione replied. "Oh I need to talk with Tonks and Lucy, we need to get together and see what each is wearing so we don't clash. If I can set it up, can you flash Tonks and I to the States so we can meet with Lucy?" Hermione asked. Harry said he could do that but they might have to transfigure one of them to reduce the weight he carried.

Hermione became busy selecting the invitations, Harry wisely said he would accept anything within reason and to just show him the three finalist to chose from. When asked about who Harry wanted to invite, he had only a few people – Petunia and Dudley (no need to invite Vernon), all the members of the Peaks crew, the whole Weasley family, Grimstead, and Alana to both ceremonies; well it might not be a good idea to invite the Weasleys to the muggle ceremony given the wizards way of dressing. Hermione's list for the magical ceremony was short also, but her list for the muggle ceremony included most of her relations. So, they would need two sets of invitations, one magical and the other muggle.

It was the middle of October before Hermione could get the meeting set up between the three brides. Harry was able to flash Tonks and Hermione from Hogwarts to New York City where they were met by Lucy and the three girls went shopping while Harry just looked around the city. By the end of the day Harry was about 99% sure he should have just flashed out to see Alana and Rick. Twice someone tried to pick his pocket, he stumbled into two robberies, and was almost arrested when an undercover cop tried to sell him drugs and he knocked the man out (it turned out he looked too much like a wanted person they were looking for). When the girls heard what had happened they laughed, after making sure he was okay.

While Lizzy was enjoying her Thanksgiving visit with her family it was just another day to the Hogwarts students. Harry met with Tom and asked him to try again to call an elemental, but this time focus his thoughts on just that task. A small form appeared and very nervously approached Tom. "Tom this is a friend of Windford and he would like to be your friend and companion. Windford told me about him last time you tried the rods, but I though it best if we waited until you and I were alone before telling you. It is up to you and this elemental to agree on what he is to be called. He can only stay for a very short while this time, so why don't you and he talk while I work on some of these papers that need grading." Harry explained.

Over the next couple of weeks Harry and Tom met each night after supper so Tom could call his new friend, Abe, first using the rod but finally progressing to where Tom could call Abe without a rod. Harry told Tom that he needed to make the time to call Abe every day until it was almost second nature to do so. This served two purposes, it gained Tom the ability to call Abe easily and quickly, and it gave Abe a chance to gain strength in their world. "But you need to keep Abe a secret until he is strong enough to stay longer and you are skilled enough to call him easily" Harry explained.

On the weekends Harry and Hermione both worked with the three kids on wand-less magic, wands, and getting them used to using any elemental powers they developed. Thanks to his association with Abe, Tom was showing remarkable progress in his ability to control Air. Sally's control of Water was improving and Sarah was getting better with her control of Air. Tom was also working on a second project, a real wand for himself. Harry had found a piece of wood that responded strongly to Tom and Tom was carving it into a wand with his own personalization. Next Harry would help him determine the core(s) for the wand, but Tom was to do all the work himself.

It was the last Defense class before Christmas break for the First Years and Harry had a surprise for them. "Okay, put your books, paper, quills, pens, and wands away, you won't need any of that stuff for this class. Today we are going to do something I had planned to do much earlier in the year but it slipped my mind. We are going to the practice chamber today and we are going to do something very unusual, we are going to see if any of you have any type of elemental abilities. Once in the practice area I want you to divide into four groups and form lines behind the table there, do not touch anything on the table until I tell you to do so" Harry told them.

When they got into the practice area they found four lines on the floor, on the table were four pieces of wood that were polished but didn't look anything like a wand. "Now form your lines, one behind each rod on the table. First four step up, the rest of you stay back behind the lines. When your turn is over you will go to the rear of the line on your right. The ones on the far right go to the rear of the first line. We will do this so each of you have a chance to try each of the rods on the table. First four pick up the rods and keep them pointed downrange, give them a wave and see if anything happens, but don't move until I say you can" Harry explained as he watched each student try each wand.

When he saw Tom step up he told Tom to stand to one side as he had already done this exercise, the same with Sarah and Sally. None of the students had called anything that resembled an elemental but a few had shown a strong reaction to a certain element, a few got either no reaction at all or it was so weak as to be discounted. Once everyone had tested and been assigned an area, including Sally and Sarah, Harry had Tom show them what they had been trying to do – call an elemental. There were many explanations "WOW", "OH MY GOD", or "BLOODY HELL" heard when Abe appeared beside Tom.

"Now you see why I had Tom get out of line, I didn't want any of you getting distracted by his friend. I found out about Tom's friend a few weeks ago and have been working with him ever since to teach him how to act with an elemental. Now, I want Tom to introduce his friend and to tell you all about his elemental, including what an elemental is and where they come from." Harry said, and Tom blushed.

"First I want to say 'Thanks for putting me on the spot Professor'", Harry just nodded, "Okay, everyone this is Abe. He is an Air elemental. The first time he answered my call was a few weeks ago like Prof. Potter said. When he appeared the first time he was much smaller and not nearly as well formed as he is now. While the prof. has taught me some, most of what I have learned has come from Abe. An elemental is a force of nature and there are four major ones, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Each type lives in a different world and can only visit our world if asked or if summoned. As the prof. told me if you try and summon an elemental you best be prepared to fight it because they don't like being summoned here by force, much like you wouldn't like it if someone came and took you away from home. If you are lucky enough to be able to call an elemental it is because that elemental heard your call and decided to answer it. The rods you used today are only for the first few contacts as they are specific to each group or type of elementals. Once you form a friendship with one and gain experience you can call your friend without using the rods, just like I did a few minutes ago with Abe. The more you call your new friend the stronger it becomes in our world, after a certain point it grows as you grow. I can talk to Abe and he can reply, but only in my head. After a while he will learn enough human speech so he can understand anyone but he only answers to his friend. That is about all I can think of to tell you, but if you have questions – and I know you do because I did – just ask in a calm manner and maybe if I can't answer them then the prof. will help me out" Tom explained.

As expected there were many question but Harry let Tom field most of them, and only had to help out a few times. "Okay, now to show you why I had Sally and Sarah step out of line. Each of these two girls has what is considered a major connection to an element, which means she can exercise more control over a specific type of element. Sally is connected to Water and Sarah is connected to Air. I am going to put them on the spot too and ask each of them to demonstrate what I mean. First Sally" Harry said as he conjured up some water for her to work with. Sally did several things with the water. Next Harry called Sarah and she showed the class what she could do with Air based spells and effects. "Now since I know Abe is getting tired I won't ask Tom to show his mastery of Air. But I will tell you I want at least two pages after break on elementals. Now you are released to enjoy your holidays." Harry ended the session by saying.

Harry repeated the same exercise with his 2nd and 3rd year classes, there were a few who had a strong connection but none called an elemental. In a way Harry was glad there were no new elementals called as he didn't want to let any of the students take the rods home over the holidays, and that was the only way they would be able to call a new elemental. Harry had said he might have another seminar that dealt with elementals and he would, after break and he had time to gather support from a few of the others, like Luna and Neville so he would have each elemental represented. Now all he had to worry about was December 28th and 29th, the 28th was his muggle wedding and the 29th was his magical wedding (along with Rick and Lucy's and Remus and Tonks weddings).

The rest of the term went well, the students went home on the 15th of December and would return on the 6th of January. That would give Hermione and himself almost a week to "honeymoon". Harry hadn't told Hermione what he had planned for their honeymoon yet, just that she would see something new and have fun (he hoped).

Harry took a steadying breath. Today was a big day. Today he was marrying Hermione. He smiled, he should be more nervous he thinks but he knew it was what was meant to be he and Hermione had been a team for almost as long as harry could remember. One last look into the mirror and he smiled. A white tux was the uniform of the day heck Harry didn't even mind the periwinkle accents. Harry left the dressing-room and entered the main church. It was the church Hermione and her family attended, The minister baptized Hermione when she was an infant. Harry smiled it must be nice to have roots like that it made Harry wish he had something like that.

The guests were starting to arrive and Harry greeted the few that were on his side, today was for Hermione while the handfasting was for them.

Harry waited at the alter where they had practiced the night before the church was full since Hermione's parents being active in their community there were many people they had invited. Suddenly the music started and the doors opened the girls from Hermione's side were escorted by the guys from Harry's side. Lizzy came down first by herself her dress the same as Hermione's just proportioned for her and done in periwinkle Harry had the quick thought that she would be a beautiful bride when she was a little no a lot older. Then Hermione entered on her father's arm. She was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Even though he was sure every groom thought that he knew that Hermione was actually the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Once Hermione made it to the alter it all became a blur. He knew he said the right thing at the right time because he didn't hear a gasp or any giggles and couldn't remember and glares from Hermione. Before he knew it the minister was telling him to kiss his bride. He did so gladly. Then they danced down the aisle Harry and Hermione hand in hand with Lizzy holding Hermione's train.

Hermione and Harry couldn't stop grinning and the photographer actually had to tell them to dial down their grins or the pictures may seem false in the future.

Harry and Hermione stood before the Headmistress' office door and looked at each other.

"Did we do something wrong, Harry" asked Hermione her brain quickly going through the last few weeks to see if she could find an infraction of the rules that would get them in trouble.

"I don't think so Luv." said Harry "But I haven't felt like this since we were first or second years. Why would we be summoned to the headmistress' office? I hope nothing is wrong."

Hermione took a deep breath and stepped forward."We'll only make ourselves ill worrying down here, It's best to get it done with now. Come on let;s get this over with. Catnip." with the uttering of the password the gargoyles jumped aside and the two stepped forward to take their places on the moving staircase.

"Have you noticed how the gargoyles are looking rather cat like now?" asked Harry turning to watch the door close behind them.

"Well it is Headmistress McGonagall's office now. It makes sense for the school to adjust to their likes and dislikes, I think." said Hermione sounding more and more nervous as they road closer to the office door.

At their knock McGonagall called "Come in" she was sitting in front of the fire in one of the three comfortable chairs set there with a tray of tea and biscuits looking like she was about to have tea. "Come in you two" she said kindly " you look like a couple of first years up here for the first time."

"well to be honest," began Hermione "we rather feel like it. What did we do to be summoned to you office? Are we in trouble?" she inquired taking the seat farthest from the headmistress.

"Trouble? Oh no not at all. I'm afraid my office assistant, Blott, is a tad bit over zealous when I send him on errands around the castle. In general he's a good elf and a great organizer I have no idea what I would do without him just a little over eager sometimes. I do need to talk to you two though. As the person to over see your magical bonding it is my duty to talk to you about what it means and how it will effect you. Now do you have your cords yet?"

Harry and Hermione looked at teach other and then back at Minerva "Cords?" they said together.

"Yes in a magical bonding each person in the couple has a cord that they have prepared. The two cords will magically intertwine and then wrap around the couple's hands and writs it's part of the bonding. Now we don't have much time so I will send Blott off to the appropriate store to have an appointment set up."

With that a soft pop was heard and a small house elf with slight cat like qualities to his appearance appeared in the office. "Mistress Headmistress has an errand for Blott, ma'am?"

Minerva scribbled off a quick note and said,"Yes I do Blott, would you please take this note to Abel and wait for a response please. Oh and tell him the sooner the better please."

Blott nodded took the note and pooped quietly out of the office.

"Now you two let me explain the magical bonding."

Minerva spent the better part of an hour explaining and answering questions. She told them how with a magical bonding the couple's life force magic and love all intertwine just like the cords do at the ceremony. It did not mean that one couldn't live without the other or that they even had a close telepathic bond but they had willingly intertwined their lives and that breaking this bond was almost impossible that is why there were so few divorces or even dissolving of marriages in the magical world. Once all their questions had been answered Blott returned

"Abel says now would be a fine time Mistress he has no other appointments this day. He has opened his flew to your office so all Mistress Hermione and Master Harry have to do is walk through the flew and they will be there." Blott bowed and popped out of the room.

"Well no better time then now I would say."said Minerva standing and indicating the flew "Off you go now. Both together it will be fine."

Minerva ushered the two into the flew and watched as the green flames engulfed them. She smiled at the confused look on their faces, it was very unusual to see a look like that from wither one of them let alone both at the same time.

Harry and Hermione found themselves in small store if Hermione didn't know better she would have swore she was in a muggle sewing notions store. Rows ans rows of cording and other such items needed for trimmings on items of clothing or curtains were in every imaginable crevices and corner of the place. The only other store Harry had ever seen so cramped and crowded had been Ollivander's Wand Shop.

"Ah, Mr Potter and Ms Granger." said a familiar voice from behind the back wall. I have been expecting you. I made the prediction of your joining way back when I sold you your first wands. A very good match with many strong magical children will come of this union."

Mr Ollivander stepped from behind the wall to smile eerily at the two giving both of them a very odd feeling down their backs much like when they were children and someone would say that something had just walked over their grave.

"Now if I may I will need to measure you and run a few tests." Before either could speak two tape measures appeared at their knees and started to take measurements while Ollivander spoke a few mumbled words as a silvery mist came from his wand engulfing the two in the mist. Harry glance over at Hermione shrugged his shoulders allowing the magical examination with a sigh.

"Fine,fine" said Ollivander looking intently at things in the mist that neither Harry or Hermione could see. "Ah yes, of course." was his next comment. "Yes that should work fine and look well together also."

Ollivander walked away as the tape measures continued with their task. He returned with a half dozen spools of cording. "Now which of these do you seem attracted to." he said looking first at Hermione. Assuming it was much like finding her elemental Hermione closed her eyes and waited to see which attracted her attention. A yellowish teal green slightly metallic cord was the one that spoke to her the clearest and she indicated that to Mr Ollivander who smiled. "Now you Mr Potter. So any of these speak to you?" Harry closed his eyes and waited. Nothing reached out to him that was in front of him but Harry found himself moving of his own accord toward a small nitch in the back corner of the store. He reached his hand out and a spool of almost clear silver cording fell into his hands, "I think it's suppose to be this one,Sir" said Harry looking down at the cording.

"Very well Mr Potter, always the tricky one it seems. Well these two cords will look very nice together. Now I will need a lock of your hair please at least 6 inches long and no less then 14 strands of hair."

Harry reached up to mess his short hair. "I'm afraid I can't do that,Sir." he said.

"What? Yes, oh yes. Here let me help." Ollivander waved his wand again and directly behind harry and Hermione's left ears at the hair line they felt a tingle and then an itching sensation. Looking down Harry saw a small section of hair start to fall down towards his shoulder. The same was happening to Hermione. When the hair was long enough Ollivander waved his wand again and the hair stopped growing and disengaged itself from them. Ollivander caught them and with a final wave of his wand tied them off so that no hair would be lost. "Now if you will excuse me I will add the hair to the cords. 6 strands of your own hair into your partner's cord with the rest of the hair going into your own cords. Much like the cores of a wand. This will only take a few moments. Please feel free to look around." with that the older gentleman left the room to finish his project. Less then ten minutes later he returned with the cords and handed them to Harry and Hermione. "Now let's give them a test run shall we? Please face each other hold left hands and drape your cords over the backs of your wrists." Harry and Hermione did as they were instructed and the cords wiggled a little before rolling to meet at their clasped hands. The ends came together and the the two cords started to twist slowly at first but more quickly as the length of the cords intertwined. When the two cords finally finished a small breeze was felt about the shop just as the cords did a graceful figure eight between their wrists. "Very good!" exclaimed Ollivander clapping happily like a small child. "That was one of the best intertwining I have seen in quite some time. Now let's get these two apart finish our transaction and you two can be off." With a flick of his wrist the two cords pulled apart and landed on the counter. Mr Ollivander bagged their purchases. "That will be 7 galleons each please." he said looking expectantly from Harry to Hermione.

"If you have a Gringotts note I will sign for both of them." said Harry reaching for the quill on the desk. Ollivander presented the paper and in just a moment the two were stepping out of the flew and into the headmistress' office.

"Welcome back you two" greeted the headmistress. "Now if you don't mind I will keep your cords here with Remus' and Dora's. Now off with you so you don't miss lunch." Minerva gave them a grandmotherly smile as she shooed them towards her office door.

Sooner then they thought possible Harry found himself in his room dressing for his wedding. He was wearing well tailored maroon with gold accent dress robes. The fine silk material draped on him just like the little elf tailor had said it would. Harry took one last swipe at his hair shrugged and turned from the mirror. He was startled to come face to face with Rick and Remus both smiling at him.

"Your hair is fine Harry." said Rick smiling fondly at his charge. Rick had watched as Harry grew and matured and he suddenly knew how Harry's father would have felt if he was here that day. Remus turned to look at his friend. "Yeah James and Lily would be very proud with how he has turned out. Thank you from them." To keep from tearing up Harry said "Hey I'm right here guys." they all laughed and headed toward the great hall which had been transformed into a beautiful cathedral style facility. A waist high white marble table was in the middle of the room decorated in holly, oak and seasonal flowers a gold challis and a white handled knife also on the alter. The cords of the brides and grooms hung magically in loops above the table. A gold cord encircled the alter in a perfect 18foot round circle. There the two ends of the cord met was directly in line with the mail walk way from the door of the great hall. Harry looked in and saw all of their guest standing just inside the circle four of the guests were holding candles upon closer inspection Harry saw that two were Hermione's parents while the other two were his Aunt Petunia and his cousin Dudley. They stood across from each other like compass points.

McGonagall stepped forward and indicated for harry to proceed down the walk way as he came to the circle she stopped him reached down opened the circle of cording and bowed him in. Next came Hermione with Lizzy who was going to stand next to her. Hermione's robes were breath taking they were periwinkle in color her hair was up but with small ringlets falling down her neck in perfect curls. Harry had to restrain himself from reaching out to touch them a small tiara of sparkling diamonds set in silver was perfectly worked into her hair she just radiated happiness and seemed to almost glow. McGonagall again stopped the procession at the gate of the circle she opened the circle to allow the girls in and then closed the circle with a nod not touching it this time. Harry and Hermione proceeded to the alter then McGonagall picked up the white handled dagger held it over her head turned behind her where Hermione's father stood and said.

"Watchtower of the North we invite you to our hand-fasting ceremony"

With a tap of the dagger the candle Mr Granger was holding came to life and then standing next to Mr Granger was Rocky smiling at them next McGonagall proceeded around the circle with her dagger extended until she cam to Harry's Aunt Petunia.

"Watchtower of the East we invite you to our hand-fasting ceremony"  
With a tap of the dagger the candle ignited and Windy and Windford stood on either side of Aunt Petunia.

McGonagall proceeded around the circle stopping at Mrs Granger who stood at the South corner of the circle where Firebeard appeared after the candle was lit and on to the west corner where Dudley was holding the last candle where Ariel, Luna's water elemental, appeared.

McGonagall proceeded to the alter and put down the dagger.

"Welcome all to the hand-fasting of Harry James Potter and Hermione Granger. This will be the joining of two very intelligent and strong young people who I have had the honor of watching grow and mature into wonderful young adults." as she spoke Minerva raised her hands and Harry and Hermione's

floated up in front of them their colors sparkling in the candle light. The ends came together and started to twirl as they combined Minerva continued,

"These two cords represent Hermione and Harry their magic, their life forces and their love for each other. As the cords combine so does their lives and love to represent one as in marriage they are no longer individuals but a team a very special team since they have actually been a team for most of their lives already."  
As she spoke the cords finished combining and wrapped itself loosely in a figure eight around their wrists and down to their hands. A glow started from the cord slowly engulfing them into a bright light then it slowly vanished. Harry and Hermione stood with huge grins on their faces, They felt different but the same. Stronger and solid in their lives and magic. McGonagall lifted the goblet above her head

"This Goblet represents nourishment to the body and soul" she handed the goblet to Harry "Harry repeat after me then hand the goblet to Hermione. I , Harry James Potter"

Harry repeated "I, Harry James Potter"

"vow to cherish, protect and nourish you Hermione to the best of my ability"

"vow to cherish protect and nourish you Hermione to the best of my ability"

"Please take this goblet as a token of my vow."

"Please take this goblet as a token of my vow"

Hermione took the goblet and carefully took a sip'

"I Hermione "

"I Hermione" Hermione repeated after Minerva

"vow to cherish, protect and nourish you Harry James to the best of my ability"

"vow to cherish, protect and nourish you Harry James to the best of my ability"

"Please take this goblet as a token of my vow."

"Please take this goblet as a token of my vow."

Harry took the goblet offered to him by Hermione and drank from it. Again the couple glowed. McGonagall then said "I now am very happy to present Mr and Mrs Harry and Hermione Potter." McGonagall raised her hands over her head and said,"Thank you watchtowers of the North, South, East and West. We thank you for your presence here at this hand-fasting Go if you must please stay if you wish." McGonagall clapped her hands over her head and with a wave of magic all of the candles went out at the same time. Turning away from the alter the circle also opened of it's own accord Harry and Hermione proceeded out of the circle followed by their guests.

The guests Harry and Hermione all circled back to the ceremony, every guest was asked by Headmistress McGonagall  
"How do you enter this circle?"  
Each guest answering "with love and trust."

Sirius stepped up to the west watchtower with Harry placing himself at the east, Tonks parents Andi and Ted Being north and south.

Harry was amazed at how beautiful Tonks and Remus' handfasting was. The ceremony was so different from a participant's point of view.

Remus' cord was a silvery gray much like the full moon while Tonk's cord was a bright hot pink. When the two joined they evened each other out and made a beautiful cord much like Remus and Tonks evened each other out and made a beautiful couple. Remus was the happiest he'd ever been in his life and Tonks just radiated with happiness and love.

The next to marry was Rick and Lucy Harry and Petunia were North and South for Lucy while two of Rick's close friends from his work.

Rick's cord was a metallic black while Lucy's was a deep purple.  
When the ceremony was completed a glow arose from Lucy and rick and then encompassed Harry. Minerva smiled and spoke to the guest.

"As many of you know many years ago Lucy, Rick and Harry became a family when Harry was taken in by these two wonderful people. The powers that have visited us today for this handfasting have also joined Rick, Lucy and Harry as an official family.

I now present to you. Mr and Mrs Richard Greene, Mr and Mrs Remus Lupin and Mr and Mrs Harry Potter. May the energies and love of these ceremonies bless them and keep them for many years to come.

With in moments the Great Hall re-arranged itself into the gathering for the reception.

A small band played music the party proceeded into the night.

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**A/N: Wedding scenes were written by Mae Silverpaws, since we all know that men don't have much of a romance gene :). **

**Please be kind and comment**


	8. Chapter 8

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 8**

Harry woke up and remembering suddenly why he wasn't wearing any clothes, and neither was Hermione, they had gotten married yesterday, for the second time in two days. They had gotten married first as a muggle couple on Saturday, then yesterday they had gotten married in a magical ceremony at Hogwarts – downstairs since they were in the Gryffindor Quarters now. Harry eased out of bed and headed to the bathroom, he really needed to pee.

When Harry returned to bed he woke Hermione, "Morning Mrs. Potter, ready to go on your honeymoon?"

"Good morning Mr. Potter and I will be as soon as I go to the bathroom, who knew last nights activities would cause such a disparate urge the next morning. Now move out of the way or start swimming" Hermione replied as she rushed to the bathroom.

While Hermione took care of her needs Harry called Daisy to request breakfast for the newlyweds. By the time Hermione returned and crawled back into bed, Daisy was back with their breakfast. "Good morning Miss Hermione and congratulations on being mated to Lord Harry Potter. sir. Will there be anything else you be needing before you leave? Both of your luggage is ready and your traveling clothes are laid out" Daisy said before she popped out of the room.

They enjoyed their first real breakfast as newlyweds, they had not been able to eat together yesterday as they were to be married later that day. Harry remembered all the confusion yesterday, Hermione had stayed in the Ravenclaw quarters with Lizzy Saturday night, after the muggle reception. Lizzy had been one wide-eyed little girl ever since she had been picked up for the weddings, seeing all the wonders of Hogwarts and London. But last night Lizzy had been sent to the Ravenclaw quarters and Luna had stayed with her so she wouldn't be alone.

After finishing breakfast the couple enjoyed each other for a little while before going to the baths and then getting dressed. Hermione still didn't know where Harry was taking her, he had only said she would see new things and have fun. She had been told to pack light weight clothes since where they were going was warm, and only a few robes as they would be in muggle areas most of the time. The plan was to pick Lizzy up and drop her back home before they started their honeymoon.

Once they were dressed Harry shrunk their luggage and they went to see if Lizzy and Luna were up yet, they should be it was 9am. When they got to Luna's quarters they found the two girls looking over some of the books in Luna;s library. You could tell Lizzy was related to Hermione as she was always ready to look at new books and learn new things. "Morning you two, about time you got up, Luna and I got up and ran this morning already. Do I have to go home right now? Luna said she would take me home later, if it was okay with you" Lizzy said when she noticed them.

"First off young lady where is my hug this morning?" Hermione asked and Lizzy was up and hugging both Harry and Hermione almost instantly.

"Now what's this about waiting until later to go home? I'm sure your parents want to spend some of your break with you, and you with them. Besides Luna was nice enough to stay with you last night so you wouldn't be all alone and she needs to spend some time with her dad too." Harry said.

"Well, Luna and I were talking last night about a lot of things and she mentioned that she had got to see real live dragons and I want to see a dragon too. Besides if you don't have to take me home you have more time for your honeymoon." Lizzy replied and tried to look at Harry and Hermione with "puppy dog" eyes.

"What do you have to say about this Luna? We don't want to impose on you" Hermione asked.

"It really isn't a problem and like Lizzy said it would give you a little more time together alone. The only thing is that Harry would have to speak with Fawkes to make sure she wouldn't mind flashing us there and me back. You did know Fawkes was female didn't you Harry?" Luna replied with her best "Looney Luna" look.

Harry and Hermione started laughing and Lizzy had a very surprised look on her face. "Luna you know we know better than that so wipe that 'Looney Luna' expression off your face. Where are you going to find dragons, since Charlie Weasley is spending a few day with his family. You know that Harry won't allow anyone to visit the reserve unless either he or Charlie are there to watch over you" Hermione replied with a smile, she had a pretty good idea what Luna planned. Luna planned to ask Charlie to take them to the reserve for a few hours.

After a little back and forth Harry said that if Luna could convince Fawkes to handle the transport then he didn't see any reason to say no. Luna called Fawkes, changed into her eagle form, and got Fawkes to agree to take Lizzy home and to bring Luna back to her house. With that settled Harry hugged both Luna and Lizzy, changed into his phoenix, and he and Hermione flashed out of the castle.

Hermione didn't recognize the place where they landed, she had never been here before or so she thought. Harry changed back and escorted the two of them to the immigration desk. When asked Harry pulled two passports out and handed them to the clerk. "What is the reason for your visit?" was the next question. "We are on our honeymoon" was all the answer Harry gave. "Congratulations, and welcome to Naples. Please present you wands for inspection and registration" the clerk replied. After their wands were inspected and registered they took the floo to their hotel.

Check-in at the hotel was very quick and they were shown to their suite. Hermione couldn't believe Harry had brought her to Italy for their honeymoon, and they had the "Bridal Suite" too. Harry suggested they rest today and start the tours tomorrow, Hermione was all for that. After a short nap Harry took Hermione down to the spa and had them give her "the works", Hermione spent the afternoon soaking in mud, and just generally being pampered. The two ate supper in the hotel restaurant and retired early.

Hermione was the one to wake up first the next morning, after taking care of her morning duties she woke Harry and suggested they work out in the exercise room before breakfast, and they did. After a nice combination English and Italian breakfast the two started their tour of the area and it's attractions. Hermione was impressed with the visit to old Pompeii and they even went to see Mt. Vesuvius. The two spent several days in the area and even visited a few other places like Rome.

Hermione did discover that Harry had been wrong about the climate, it was cold during this time of the year, and she told him so. "Just an excuse to go shopping for you" was his reply. After three days Harry said it was time to move on and that they would leave after breakfast. This time Harry had purchased a portkey for the next leg of their journey. When they landed Hermione was surprised to see nothing but desert as far as the eye could see. "Where are we?" was the first question asked. "We are standing on top of the Great Pyramid, I had to pay a little extra to get us here and the portkey will only let us stay for 10 minutes then take us to the regular landing point so we can tour the pyramid just like the other visitors do" Harry replied just as the portkey reactivated. They spent the rest of the day touring different parts of the pyramid and surrounding area. The night was spent in a hotel not far away, for magicals only.

The next morning it was time to travel again, this time when they landed it wasn't as warm as the desert but was warmer than Naples. When Hermione looked around she saw many brightly colored paper lanterns hanging all over the area. Once again Harry presented their passports and had them stamped so their visit was official, in the mundane world as well as the magical world. Once again their wands were weighed and registered. Once outside Hermione was surprised to see that they were in Hong Kong China. Harry explained that they would be there for that day and one more before they had to travel again.

The next time they traveled they ended up in Japan, in the city Osaka. "We will be here for one month of compressed time and three days of regular time. The compressed time starts tonight, but when it ends we will have a day and a half to explore and see some of the sights" Harry explained. After checking in with immigration and the wand weighing they were taken to a nice size "palace" for their stay. They had supper in a traditional tea house that night and the next morning Harry had Hermione change into a white Gi before they left their room. When they got downstairs Harry explained that for the next 30 days they would be training under a Master to improve their skills and maybe getting an official rating in the Martial Arts.

The days were split into sessions, the first was physical conditioning, followed by hand-to-hand training, after lunch endurance training, followed by instruction on the use of a staff – both magical and non-magical, the last session of the day was focused on the Arts of the Mind. By the time the first day ended Hermione and Harry were wiped out physically and mentally. They had both been rated as semi-advanced students instead of beginners, as such they had both been given a colored belt to replace the white belt they had worn at the start of the day. That night Harry left Hermione soaking in the tub and went to study with the Japanese Master of wands and staves.

Harry had been instructed to bring only those wands or staff that he had made himself. The master was surprised to see the wand and staff Harry brought. "These were based on the work of Grimstead, there are many of his ideas found. But, there is much of yourself in these items. While you are here we will attempt to create a truly unique wand or staff for you. You have been taught much, but there are a few things yet to learn from the Japanese way" was the opening statement of the master craftsman. When asked why his wand and staff was linked to two elemental forms Harry said he could call both types of elementals, the master doubted that statement until he met both Firebeard and Windford.

It was the evening of the final day of time compression and after the evening meal was an awards ceremony for all of the students. Several of the students were given another belt, only one step beyond what they stared with. Hermione was surprised to find she was considered a Brown belt now by international standards, but Harry received his Black belt. The surprise was when the Masters called Harry up and presented him with a Journeyman Certificate in oriental wand and staff creation. "While in the non-magical world it is not unusual for a female to study the Arts, it is very unusual for one to do so in the magical world. The fact that she is not Japanese is even more unusual. The British witches and wizards are not known for their physical abilities and this couple has shown that even they can excel if properly motivated and trained. The art of crafting magical aides is a dying art and yet here we find one who would carry on that art. Potter-San is known to many as the one who defeated Voldemort' was the closing statement by The Master of the school.

The next morning Harry and Hermione left the "school" and made like regular tourists for the next day and a half, they visited several places of interest like Mount Fuji and several other places of interest. But now it was time to move on they only had two days until school started again. It took several hops but the next major stop was at San Francisco and from there it was a simple jump, or flash, to Peaks to say hello to Alana. After a brief visit the two headed to Lizzy's house to say hello and to see how she was doing. The Nelsons were sorry that Harry and Hermione couldn't stay a little longer but they were short on time and long on distance to travel. The final stop was the Gryffindor quarters and a well deserved night of rest since students would return the next night.

It was Sunday morning when Harry and Hermione went downstairs to see the headmistress and the rest of the staff. They spent a few hours showing the staff pictures of some from their travels and adventures. Soon it was time for the train to return and Harry and Hermione had drawn the duty at the station to welcome the students back. The return feast was as noisy as usual, but Harry and Hermione were hounded by several students afterward wanting to know all about their honeymoon, like where they went and what they saw – if anything besides the inside of their bedroom. That night Harry hung his new certificate up in his office at Hogwarts, right beside his certificate from Grimstead.

It was 530am Monday morning when Harry, Hermione, and the rest of their friends met for their morning workout, but overnight there had been a snow storm move in and it wasn't fit weather to go outside and run. The group went to the room of requirement and had it take the form of a gym and worked out on the machines there. Harry's first class was Defense for 1st years and he was glad to see that they had all done their homework and had their papers on elementals ready. Harry had a few of the students read their papers and was surprised when several of them had what amounted to mini-books to hand in. If the Gryffindor and Hufflepuffs had that kind of report to hand in then Harry was dreading the Ravenclaw reports.

It was after supper that night when McGonagall asked Harry to meet her in the hospital wing as Poppy had something she needed to tell both of them. When they got to the hospital wing Poppy was just finishing up with a student who had been involved in a potion accident. "Minerva, Harry, as you might remember during the summer session it was discovered that a couple of students had a binding on their cores. While this isn't that unusual for magically raised students these two weren't raised magically, but are muggle born. I'm not sure how to put this, but both were fathered by the same man. The mothers are two different women and the students aren't related except through the father. Someone needs to tell Draco Malfoy he has a stepbrother and a stepsister" Poppy said once they were alone. Both McGonagall and Harry were speechless for several seconds.

"Poppy, are you sure about this?" was the first thing out of McGonagall's mouth once she got the power of speech back.

"That is why it took me so long, I had the tests run several times and not only here but at St. Mungo's and didn't give them any information other than that the samples were from the results of a possible rape. As you know Minerva, in the magical world rape of a muggle results in a life sentence to Azkaban. It was St. Mungo's that determined the name of the father, a little late since Lucius is dead. I suspect it was he who placed the bindings on these students but can't be sure. The results were not made known to the students, but I felt you two should know as the results were recorded at the Ministry, and sealed from public view" Poppy continued.

"At least the records are sealed, there is not a good reason to condemn the students because of their 'father's' actions or reputation. I assume that the male was Tom, if so that might be why he is as strong as he is. Headmistress, is it necessary to inform Draco of these results? I think it would be in the best interests of the students to keep this information very quiet", Harry interjected.

McGonagall thought for a few seconds before agreeing with Harry. "Yes, it would be in the effected students best interests to keep their parentage a secret. There is no use in ruining the reputation of any woman by saying she was raped, especially a muggle woman by a wizard. That might only cause more problems for the magical world if it was known to happen too often and covered up. But, the Malfoy estate should have to cover their education and they should get something out of the incident", McGonagall concluded.

When Harry mentioned the new information to Hermione, she was ready to dig Lucius up and kill him again. Her question of whether or not Draco would follow in his father's footsteps made Harry think. Harry didn't want to think about that and had hoped that maybe Draco could be "saved" so to speak. "Hopefully, that was a learned behavior and not something in his genes. Maybe the DMLE should keep an eye on Draco for a while, just to see that he doesn't continue his father's actions" was Harry's final thoughts on that subject.

* * *

**A/N: Well the honeymoon is over and school has started back. Now we know why some of the kids had their cores bound. It does raise the question of some of the muggle-born students heritage though. What is next for our group? Due to a computer melt down the next chapter will be a while coming - my desktop crashed and it had all the work on it, sorry.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	9. Chapter 9

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 9**

Everything had settled down after the holidays, the powers that be in the DMLE, also known as Kingsley, decided that it would be a good idea to have a few of the older aurors come in for an update in training and a review of procedures. The new training facility, the old Malfoy Manor, would be used and since it had time compression wards on it then it would be no problem to do the updates in one day. Kingsley sent out a notice stating that select aurors were to report to headquarters on the 18th of January for an all day class starting at 7am. There were a few complaints about coming in on days off and such, but mostly nobody wanted to spend all day in class.

Meanwhile at Peaks, Lizzy was returning to her school also. She had really enjoyed the Christmas break, especially the weddings, but was ready for classes to start back. On her first night back Lizzy laid in her bed thinking about what all had happened and what she had seen over the holidays. Luna taking her to see real dragons had been the highlight of the time. Charlie Weasley had even been able to get a few of the younger dragons to "pose" in a picture with her, just wait until she showed those pictures to her friends.

_**FLASHBACK**_

_Harry and Hermione had just left on their honeymoon when Lizzy turned to Luna and asked how they were going to get Charlie Weasley to take them to the reserve. Luna said the hardest part would be doing it without the other Weasleys boys tagging along. It turned out that all the Weasley boys except Charlie were out when the two got to the Burrow. Luna cornered Charlie and convinced him that taking Lizzy to see the dragons was a good thing. Charlie finally gave in and said they would leave from Hogwarts the next morning at 8am._

_The next morning the two girls were ready and waiting when Charlie arrived. After warning the two again that these were wild creatures the threesome port-keyed to the reserve, arriving inside the small cottage that Charlie stayed in. Charlie got one of the elves to ask if the dragons would allow Harry's friends to visit, the elf returned and said that the leader seemed okay with them visiting. The first dragon that Lizzy met was the Ridgeback that was the alpha male of the reserve, boy was he big. The next thing Lizzy knew she was "attacked" from behind by a baby dragon, it only came up to her shoulder, as it tried to rub it's head against her and then Luna. It was at this time that Lizzy found out she could hear dragons, as she "heard" the big male get on to the baby and cautioning it to be careful and not hurt the girls._

_When Lizzy mentioned hearing and understanding the dragons Charlie was amazed, but given she was related to Harry that might not be so surprising. After all that ability ran in Harry's family, so why not in this branch of the family. Luna just had a dreamy look on her face as Lizzy explained what she had "heard" and said the baby was harder to understand since his vocabulary wasn't as well developed yet._

"_Charlie, the big male said he might know a way you could gain the same ability; but it is very dangerous. You would have to have a small amount of dragon blood injected into your. The danger is that he isn't sure which dragon you might be acceptable to having the blood from. If you try with the wrong blood then it would kill you as it would burn out you magic and act like a poison. Also it would have to be a very young dragon since their magic grows stronger as they age and the stronger the magic the greater the danger" Lizzy explained as Charlie and Luna just stood there with their mouths open._

_It was decided that with the help of the male, Charlie would obtain blood from all of the smallest dragons and carefully mix it with a sample of his own blood to see the reaction. But that wouldn't be happening today as Lizzy wanted to see as many of the dragons as she could. The threesome had seen many different dragons and she had even been able to get pictures of a few of the babies and their mothers. The three had spent all day at the reserve and by the time they left Lizzy was ready for a nap, Luna wasn't far behind in that idea either. The three had decided that Lizzy should keep her new talent a secret, and also the idea about mixing dragon blood with human blood, until cleared with Harry and Hermione._

_**End Flashback**_

When Lizzy went to do her morning routine the next day she was surprised to see Cathy in the gym too. Cathy was usually still asleep at that time of the day. After her warmup Lizzy did her laps then was on her way to shower when Cathy came up and asked if Lizzy had had a good break, Lizzy said she had a wonderful break and if Cathy would come later that night she had some pictures to show her. The first day back in classes were mostly review so to get the students back in the habit of being in school again. It was during lunch that Lizzy approached the instructor of Magical Creatures and asked if he would help her identify some pictures she had.

"Mr. Applebumm, over the Christmas holidays I was able to visit an animal reserve and take a few pictures but I wasn't paying attention to closely and now I can't remember what each of these are. Would you help me label each of these so when I show my friends I can tell them what they are?" Lizzy asked as she brought out the pictures of the dragons.

When the instructor saw the pictures he became angry and accused Lizzy of trying to play a trick on him by showing pictures of fake dragons. Lizzy tried to tell him they weren't fake, but he refused to listen and said nobody would allow a child anywhere near a dragon unless it was dead as they were too dangerous. The instructor took points from Lizzy and said he would speak with her Head of House about her as he stomped off.

That night when Cathy came by Lizzy was down in the dumps about losing the points. When Cathy asked why Lizzy was so sad Lizzy told her and showed her the pictures she had shown Mr. Applebumm. Cathy was amazed when she saw the pictures, she knew that Lizzy wasn't the one to play tricks or pranks on teachers. When Cathy saw some of the pictures of the weddings she said she hoped if she ever got married she had as nice a wedding as Hermione's. That thought brightened Lizzy's mood quite a bit.

It was the next morning that Lizzy's Head of House came by and asked Lizzy to explain why Mr. Applebumm had taken points from Lizzy since she wasn't one of the students in that class. Lizzy explained that she had asked the instructor to help her identify some of the pictures she had so when she showed her friends she could tell them apart. When her Head saw the pictures of the dragons he too thought they were fake at first. But one of the pictures from the wedding showed Charlie standing beside Bill Weasley and the Head recognized Bill, that with Charlie in a few of the pictures with the dragons made him realize that these were real dragons. When the Headmistress heard about the reason for the point loss she asked if Mr. Applebumm had asked for verification of the pictures and he repeated his objection that no adult in their right mind would allow a child anywhere near a dragon. Alana told him that she had seen a couple of these dragons while at Hogwarts and that if the pictures showed Charlie Weasley then they were real dragons. The points taken were replaced and Lizzy was asked if it might be possible to have a dragon or two come visit Peaks, Lizzy said she could ask sending Charlie a letter to him at Hogwarts.

A couple of weeks later Lizzy was surprised at breakfast by her head of house, Alana, and Mr. Applebumm. Mr. Applebumm apologize for his reaction to the pictures, and Lizzy accepted; next Alana said she had a surprise for Lizzy and asked that all three follow her to her office. When the foursome arrived Lizzy was surprised to see Charlie Weasley there waiting in the office. After all the introductions were made, and Lizzy got a hug from Charlie, Alana said that Prof. Weasley had an announcement to make.

"After I received Lizzy's letter asking if it might be possible to have a few dragons visit her school, I spoke with Lizzy's family at Hogwarts – Harry and Hermione Potter – plus our own Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, and it was decided that this might be a good chance to offer an exchange program between the two schools. It would be difficult to transport even juvenile dragons from England to this location, not to mention adult dragons. So, what we offer is to provide portkeys for some of your more senior students to visit Hogwarts the next time we have dragons visit there. The problem is that only happens once a year, usually, and has already been done this school year. Then the question was asked 'What does Peaks have that Hogwarts doesn't?', the answer as far as magical creatures goes is 'not much', in fact as to live creatures much less than Hogwarts has. That didn't seem right so, if you can provide the correct environments we will offer mating pairs of a few creatures to be housed at Peaks. For this to be successful we extend an invitation to Mr. Applebumm to visit Hogwarts and help select the animals, of course while there I might be able to introduce a few live dragons to him.

"Now, what would Peaks offer in return? What does this school have that Hogwarts doesn't? The answer, Peaks has people who know a lot about elemental magic. People who could help Hogwarts start instructing about that type of magic, not necessarily how to use it as much as what it is and how it works in every day life. Right now Harry is the only one who even comes close to being able to explain elemental magic on a level that the students understand; Hermione, bless her, knows more but has a hard time getting that knowledge across to students. It really should be either Harry or Hermione here doing this but since it was a magical creature that sparked this idea I was sent. Before I forget I want to thank Lizzy for her help just before she returned here. Lizzy your help was very timely, the experiment was a success, in fact your **'little'** friend was the solution. One cc of his blood was the answer to the question. But the experiment needs to be kept a secret for the time being, the world isn't ready for that to be known yet – at least not until it has been evaluated more as to long term effects on the subject." Charlie explained.

Alana then handed Mr. Applebumm a small wooden box that contained several vials of a silvery substance. Each vial was labeled with the name of a different type dragon or creature. "Edgar, you will need a pensive to use these, they are copies of pensive memories for use in your class. I would suggest you obtain a solicitor pensive for use in class so the whole class can experience these, after you review them of course", Alana explained.

Lizzy and Charlie got to spend a couple of hours together after the meeting and brought each other up to date on what was going on. Charlie showed Lizzy recent pictures of her **"little"** friend and told her the dragon seemed to be a regular ham as whenever it saw a camera it wanted to be in the picture. "What do you say when a six foot high dragon demands something?", Charlie asked; both of them had a laugh at that. Charlie also had a couple of letters for Lizzy from Harry and Hermione that he gave to her.

Just as Lizzy and Charlie were finishing lunch Mr. Applebumm came over and asked if there was any way Charlie could give a guest lesson to the Magical Creatures classes before he went back to Hogwarts. Charlie said he could stay over night but he really had to leave the next day as he had work to do at the reserve. After the evening meal Alana stood and told the school that they were to have a special extra class for those in Magical Creatures, but everyone was welcome to stay and listen.

Charlie was slightly surprised when almost the whole school stayed for the lesson, the only ones not there he was later told were the nurse and three students who were in the hospital. Alana had obtained a special pensive so that Charlie could show the students his memories of some of the creatures he had worked with, especially the dragons. Mr. Applebumm had to be revived when Charlie showed a memory of the acromantula, and several of the students laughed at him. The highlight of the evening, at least for Lizzy, was when Charlie showed a few of his memories from the past Christmas break that showed Lizzy interacting with dragons. The kids around Lizzy looked at her with awe and a few decided that it might be a good idea to tread lightly around anyone who played with dragons – even baby dragons. Charlie explained that the use of memories was the safest way to observe dragons, at least for young students. When Charlie mentioned that there were a few openings for the coming summer for sixth year students to work with a few dragons there was much excitement in the room, Charlie promised to send applications to Alana along with the requirements.

As Lizzy was heading back to her room that night she was stopped by her ex-roommate, Ms. Abernathy. "I guess you feel so superior now, how much did it cost to get that loser to lie for you?" was the first thing out of Abernathy's mouth. Lizzy tried to tell her that Charlie wasn't a loser and that she hadn't paid anyone to lie. When Ms. Abernathy tried to pull her wand Lizzy put to use some of the skills she had been taught in the martial arts sessions and the other girl found herself on the floor, minus her wand. The noise of the disturbance drew the attention of several of the senior students, including Cathy. It was decided that this would be referred to the head of house since two other girls had seen Ms. Abernathy try to draw her wand first.

When the head of house heard all the statements he said this was a matter for the headmistress and the three of them would be meeting with her the next morning after breakfast. Ms. Abernathy was confined to her room and her wand was kept by the head of house. The next morning the hall was awaken by a scream, it was soon determined that the scream came from Ms. Abernathy's room. When one of the senior girls got there she found the student scratching furiously and that Ms. Abernathy had boils all over her face, and else where. After a quick trip to the nurse it was determined that Ms. Abernathy had fleas as well as boils all over her body. Lizzy was accused but an exam of the room door showed nobody had been in the room since 11pm the night before and there was no sign of any attempt to override the lock until the senior girl entered that morning.

Charlie had breakfast with Lizzy and a few of her friends before he had to leave to go back to the reserve. Following Charlie's departure Lizzy was escorted to see Alana by her head of house, Ms. Abernathy was already in the room when they arrived. Alana listened to both sides of the story from the night before and then listened to the report from the head of house.

"Ms. Abernathy, this is the third time you have accosted Ms. Potter and the second time that witnesses were present. I would be very interested in hearing your explanation and any reason I should not expel you here and now." Alana said.

Ms. Abernathy tried to say she was attacked first and was only trying to defend herself so she shouldn't be expelled. Alana just shook her head and told her to try again, just as she cast a truth spell. Unable to lie the young girl admitted she was jealous of Lizzy and her academic achievements.

"Ms. Abernathy I told you at the start of the year if you attacked Ms. Potter again you would be expelled, well I'm going to allow you to remain until the end of the year but all privileges are revoked and you are to serve detention every night for a month. I would take points but I see no reason your house should suffer because of your attitude and actions against another member of your house. But, if you are involved in another incident you will leave these grounds immediately and never return. Either your head of house or myself will take custody of your wand and it will only be available for the classes it is needed in, and all wand homework will be done under supervision of a senior student or you house head." Alana explained.

"Ms. Potter, I once again congratulate you on your actions in dealing with these attacks. Each time, since the first, you only responded with minimal force to defend yourself. If Ms. Abernathy spent as much time as you seem to studying her grades would be much better and her jealousy might be less. I also want to thank you for being instrumental in getting Mr. Weasley to come here and give that extra lesson in Magical Creatures, even I learned something new last night from him. Now I suggest you both get to class here are passes for your instructors", Alana finished.

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**A/N: I'm back and the Christmas break is over for our little group. What's next for our group? I don't even have an idea yet but something will happen, of that you can be sure.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	10. Chapter 10

**After Hogwarts**

**Chapter 10**

At supper that night many of the Slytherins were surprised to see Draco Malfoy enter the Great Hall and seat himself at one of the tables, alone. Charlie walked over and introduced himself as the head of house and Draco about had a heart attack to find out that a Gryffindor was now his head of house. Charlie explained the rules of the house, the new rules, and warned Draco that he would be watched very closely. Draco got another surprise when no food appeared on his plate and when he was told he had to fill his plate himself, Draco tried to order a first year to serve him but the first year refused.

When Draco entered the common room after his first meal back he was encircled by several of the fifth through seventh years and informed that his usual tactics and attitudes wouldn't be tolerated. "Charlie Weasley is a fair head of house and we don't want to suffer because of your actions. The Weasley twins are the potions instructors and they actually teach instead of just giving people points. You don't want to upset the Transfiguration instructor as she is even worse than McGonagall when it comes to proper behavior in class. I don't know if you are going to last long in Defense as Harry Potter is the instructor and one of the assignments is for you to defend against attacks during class and at meals; you can be attacked by Harry or Bill Weasley, who is the head of Gryffindor, at any time – and Potter doesn't always use his wand. There have been many changes here and most of them we like. So, just to be fair we are warning you ahead of time to watch your step because if you screw up we will be your worse nightmare. Oh, and you have been replaced as Seeker since you didn't bother to show up at the start of the year. Now have we made ourselves clear, or do we need to reenforce things the old way?" was the speech given by several of the older students. All of this had been observed and overheard by Charlie, who just smiled.

Draco's first class the next day just happened to be Charms and Flitwick gave them a review exam on the practical aspect of what had been covered first semester. The bad thing was that Hermione was there to help out and Draco couldn't seem to get half of the spells correct, even the few fifth year spells he was asked to preform. Flitwick told Draco he would have the choice of retaking fifth year Charms or he could volunteer for extra sessions each night to try and catch up. Draco elected to do the extra sessions.

Draco had the same problem in each of his classes that day. The only class where he didn't have a problem was Potions, he was ejected out of the class in the first five minutes by Fred for trying to ruin someone's potion. After supper that night Draco was summoned to the Headmistress' office and told that she was putting him back into fifth year so maybe he wouldn't fail. "Mr Malfoy, I thought I made myself clear before you came back that things have changed here at Hogwarts. I gave you the benefit of doubt that you might be able to enter as a sixth year, it appears I was mistaken. While I'm sure you have been studying some while trying to obtain a wand, it would appear that you are further behind than I would have thought. To not even be able to preform fifth year spells leaves me no choice in this matter. I have reversed your assigned detention in Potions due to my mistake in assigning you to sixth year, but this is the last time I will interfere on your behalf. Here is your new schedule, you will note that you have Charms first thing in the morning so I suggest you review the assigned lesson before then, you might get one of the fifth years to help you catch up" McGonagall explained and then dismissed Draco.

When Draco got back to the Slytherin's common room he was met by Charlie Weasley. "Well Mr Malfoy I have convinced Mr Broadmore to help you get caught up on your assignments, he won't do the work for you but he will inform you of what is expected in each of your classes. I have prevailed on your instructors to not take points from Slytherin House due to your actions today and at the request of the Headmistress. I have taken the liberty of having a copy of the house rules made available so you will know what to expect and what is expected. Have a nice evening" Charlie explained.

When Draco entered the common room Mr Broadmore introduced himself and told Draco to get his books and he would be shown where they were in each of his classes that they shared. "I don't know if you will be responsible for the holiday homework or not as you weren't here last semester. But I do know you will need to learn the 'paintball' spell for Defense and I hope you can put up a decent shield or else you will be multicolored in that class. Now besides the required courses what are you taking so I can see if I can find someone to help out?" Broadmore asked. Draco it turned out wasn't taking anything but the minimum required classes.

The next morning things started out badly for Draco in that every time he reached for his juice it would moved. When he arrived at Charms he was informed that they were to have another practical test and this time it was Potter who was helping evaluate. Making Draco's day even was was the fact that Flitwick asked Harry to test Draco. Harry had Draco start with first year charms quickly progressing up to the level the class was currently learning. Draco complained that the rest of the class wasn't starting with first year charms Harry told him that was because they had already tested at the start of the year and only had to review what was covered the first semester. Draco couldn't believe that these fifth years were now into early sixth year charms, at least what he considered early sixth year spells. Harry even warned Draco that he needed to brush up on cross species transfiguration as that was where he would be when that class came around.

At the end of class Harry told Draco that he had received an "Acceptable" for the class and that Draco needed to practice more on doing the multicolored charms. When Draco asked for a demonstration Harry had one of the other students to do the charm. The student used Draco as a target and made him four different colors at one time, Draco now looked like a mixture of Gryffindor and Slytherin. His face was the colors of Gryffindor but his arms and hands were the colors of Slytherin, Draco realized later that the student had even changed the color of all of Draco's clothes – even his underwear.

The next class was Herbology; Draco had very little problem in that class, except that he resented Neville being the instructor. After lunch Draco had CMC and was surprised to see his head of house as the instructor. When asked for the uses of dragon blood Draco couldn't answer more than three of the twelve known uses. It was then that Charlie told the class that due to some research over the holidays that he had found another use but that information was still under review. Draco was excused from the next part of class as he had no idea as how to determine what type dragon a scale came from, instead he was assigned to do a one page explanation of the characteristics of the Hippogriff to be handed in at the end of class.

Draco's next class was the one he had been dreading since before his return, Defense with Harry. Following roll-call, Harry asked if anyone could tell Mr Malfoy the motto of this class. Everyone shouted out Constant Vigilance at the same time. When Harry pointed his finger at the class everyone but Draco put up a shield, Draco now had several colorful spots on his robes. "Would someone please clean up our newest student and then split into two teams. Team one will draw a name to see who you will go against in a friendly duel against team two. Since there is now an odd number of people the odd person will duel me using first through fifth year spells or you may elect to duel an elf with the same restrictions" Harry explained.

After the class had divided up the smallest girl in the class said she would like to volunteer to duel the elf as it would give her more practice and more of a challenge, Draco snickered at that statement. Both Harry and the girl heard Draco, so Harry declined the offer but said she could go against Draco, who smiled evilly. They were the first two opponents and Harry asked if Draco was familiar with the spells allowed and the rules. Draco implied that he had been given a list of the spells covered so far, Harry told him that all of the fifth year spells were allowed – even the ones not covered yet in class.

Draco and the small girl, Jane, faced off. Draco tried to shoot a spell before they even had time to bow to each other only to see his spell countered by Jane. Harry gave Draco a warning and had them try again to bow. As soon as Harry gave the "GO" command Draco found himself hanging in the air upside down, at least he wore pants this time. Even though he still had his wand he was disorientated and got more so when Jane started him spinning. "Professor, are you sure I can't face the elf this is just too easy?" Jane asked as she now shot balls of paint at Draco.

Harry did his best to keep from laughing as Draco spun and was hit by several of the paint-balls. "Well, I know Mr Malfoy is better than what he has shown so far. How about you disarm him and we do a rematch after he has had time to recover and the winner of that rematch can face off against an elf later. In fact you will all get the chance to duel an elf before end of term" Harry replied.

Jane quickly took Draco's wand from him and handed it to Harry. Draco staggered over to a chair and sat down and looked at all the paint on his robes. The "duel" had only lasted a couple of minutes. As Draco watched several of the following duels he saw that the students didn't just shield but dodged and ducked the oncoming spells, only using a shield when needed. The odd person got ready to take his turn and elected to face the prof., the kid was large but he said he didn't think he was ready to face an elf. What really got Draco's attention was that the kid was doing many spells without a wand, he still lost against Harry.

When the duel was over the kid thanked Harry for the workout and said he never thought he could beat the prof. but had fun trying. "Hey Professor, it looks like I got lucky at least once. You've got one spot on your robes" the kid said and sure enough there was a small spot of paint on Harry's robes. The whole class clapped, except for Draco – Harry didn't bother to tell them that spot was from Bill Weasley and the seventh year class.

"Okay, now that we have all had a laugh it is time for the rematch; Ms. O'Connell, Mr Malfoy if you will take the platform again. Only this time lets let Mr Malfoy cast the first spell, and Ms. O'Connell please use something besides second and third year spells. It would be nice if I saw a few of the spells we have covered this year, besides the paintball spell" Harry instructed.

The two mounted the platform and bowed to each other, then Jane took up a defensive position. The first spell from Draco was Expelliarmus, which was dodged. Next Draco tried a body bind and it too missed. After five more spells missed Jane she returned fire and suddenly Draco was wearing too small robes and his wand was in Jane's hand. "I'm sorry prof. but it only took a couple of second year spells to win, can I still face off against the elf?" Jane said as she returned Draco's robes to the correct size and tossed his wand back to him. Draco tried to spell her as she walked away but she shielded and took his wand again without even taking out her wand.

"Mr Malfoy that will be 20 points from Slytherin and a detention for unsportsmanlike conduct. That is the most points I've ever had to take from a house this year, in addition you will be prepared to demonstrate ALL spells learned up to this date by this time next week – in front of this class. Any spell you miss or can't do will result in a loss of 5 points per spell. Your detention will be served with Prof. Charlie Weasley. Now class dismissed." Harry said.

As he left class Draco was surrounded by several Slytherins and Broadmore told him that he had just lost more points at one time than any student in the house had that year. "Also, just so you know, one of the requirements of this class is to be able to shield yourself at a moments notice. The girl you attacked twice today is the top Defense student in our year, you got lucky she didn't kill you – but we might!" Broadmore said and walked away. Draco kept a low profile for the remainder of the day. As he was walking into the dinning area for supper he was hit with six paintball spells at one time. From the angle Draco suspected most of them had come from his own house.

Just as supper was ending Charlie Weasley stood and told the hall that all Slytherins were to report to the common room for a house meeting, no exceptions. When the meeting started Charlie stood in front of his house, "Today this house lost points, the most points lost at one time for the year. Now I understand the loss of points for not being prepared in class, but those points are usually made up for by points gained. The loss of so many points by one student is **NOT ACCEPTABLE**. If this happens again then ALL extracurricular activities will be forfeit and that includes Hogsmead. Mr Malfoy your detention is postponed until next Saturday and your performance in Defense next week will determine if it is made into more than one session. Mr Broadmore, while I will not order you to help Malfoy I will ask that you think about it for the good of the house. Now I won't mention who but the elves have told me that a few of you have left messes for them to clean up, this was discussed at the start of the year and isn't allowed. If you can't keep this place clean and neat then you will all suffer. Those of you who need to go to the library to finish your homework are excused, the rest are to get busy and finish your work."

Once Charlie had left the room Draco was again surrounded by his dorm-mates and made painfully aware they were not happy with him. Broadmore came in Draco's room a short time later and told him to come with him, it was time for "remedial" lessons. Draco told him to leave him alone only to be bound and floated out of the room and into the common room where Broadmore announced that Draco had refused help. Draco was again made "painfully" aware that this was an unacceptable choice and followed Broadmore to the Defense practice room. Draco made the same trip each night and it wasn't always Broadmore who helped with the "remedial" lessons, sometimes Harry was there too.

It was time for Draco to show his spell work it had been a week since his assignment. Surprisingly it was Jane who offered to help out and provide the target, herself; but Harry said Draco would use the same target they had used the first of the year – the scoring target. What Draco wasn't expecting was the arrival of Flitwick and Hermione to watch him preform. The first thing Harry asked was to see Draco's shield, it took two tries before Draco raised his shield; Flitwick shot a paintball at the shield and the shield held. Next Draco was told to fire a Reducto at the target, he got a 45 (kinda weak) so Harry told him to put more strength into the spell and to try again. This time Draco got a 55, and fell down. Harry allowed Draco to rest for 5 minutes before continuing the test. Draco passed with all the first through fourth year spells and got 75% of the current fifth year spells correctly, which meant that Draco lost 30 points (6 x 5 points each). Harry said he would return 20 points if Draco's shield could stand up to the spell of a second year of Harry's choice. There were several moans from the Slytherins in the class, and a few knuckles were cracked too.

Harry sent a note to Tom's instructor and asked to "borrow" Tom for a few minutes. When Tom arrived Draco was instructed to stand at one end of the classroom and Tom would throw a spell at Draco's shield. Harry told Tom to cast a MILD fist of air at Draco. "Now Mr Malfoy, this is a second year student. He is going to attempt to hit you with a burst of air and a paintball. If he hits with the paintball you lose the 20 points, if the paintball doesn't hit because of your shield then you get back 20 points; is this agreeable to you?" Harry asked. Draco said it was agreeable and Tom gave him a chance to put up his shield. The fist of air hit Draco in the stomach and Draco lost his concentration the paintball hit Draco in the forehead.

"That will be another 20 points from Slytherin. I guess it was a good thing Tom only used a mild air spell. But to be fair, Mr Malfoy can choose any student from this class and if they fail to stop the same air spell then he won't lose the extra points. In fact he can choose up to three students, if they are willing, to undergo the same test of their shields" Harry said. To try and get his revenge Draco chose Jane, Broadmore, and the big kid. Harry had the three stand where Draco had stood, but he put them side by side. Tom asked for a minute and walked down to Jane, "You aren't going to be mad if I hit you with that fist of air are you? I don't like trying to hit a girl for no reason" Tom said. Jane just told him if he hit with his spell it just showed she wasn't as strong as she thought, but would want his help later to improve and she wanted him to not hold back just because she was a girl - "Give me your best shot, best MILD shot that is". The two boys told him the same thing.

Tom returned to his position and counted down from 10, then fired three fist of air at the trio – one at each. Jane didn't move, Broadmore and the big kid were knocked backwards. A spot of paint appeared on each boys chest and on the shield of Jane. Harry just shook his head, then Jane asked if Tom could try again but harder – just to see if her shield would hold. Harry looked at Tom and he shrugged and fired off a stronger blast, it took three more blasts before Jane was wearing a spot of paint on her chest, but she looked happy. "Professor that was almost as strong as I can cast that spell without help from my friend Abe" Tom said then turned and tried to apologize to Jane, but she would have nothing to do with the apology since she asked for the chance to test her shield.

Harry asked the class what they thought, should Draco get the points back or not. Draco lost the total of 50 points, only one person besides Draco, voted to reduce the points. Draco was not well received by his fellow Slytherins, or his head of house. "Ms. O'Donnell 20 points for demonstrating a good shield charm and another 20 points to Tom for his demonstration of that spell and silently as well" Harry remarked. As the class ended Draco had to ask what spell Tom had used, the whole class answered "Fist of Air".

That night at supper, and Draco was still eating alone, a first year delivered a note to him informing him that he was expected at Hagrid's hut at 9am on Saturday to do his detention and to wear old clothes and no robes. As Draco was leaving the hall he heard Charlie ask Prof. Spout how much dragon fertilizer she needed since he was going to the reserve that weekend. When Draco arrived in the common room he overheard Broadmore saying he was glad the air spell hit in his stomach instead of his groin, that would have really hurt.

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**A/N: Well Draco is back and it would appear that he hasn't changed much. Draco's detention will be the next chapter - he will hate it and you will love it (I hope).**

**Please be kind and comment**


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